Military lawyers to serve as immigration judges

Hegseth approves sending up to 600 to Justice Department, Aug. 27 memo says.

- KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

AL DRAGO Bloomberg DEFENSE Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, in the Oval Office with the president.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved sendingup to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges, according to amemo reviewed by the Associated Press.

The military will begin sending groups of 150 attorneys — both military and civilians — to the Justice Department “as soonas practicable,” and the armed services should have the first round of people identified by next week, according to the Aug. 27 memo.

The effort comes as the Trump administration is cracking down on illegal immigration by ramping up arrests and deportations. And immigration courts already are dealing with a massive backlog of roughly 3.5 million cases that has ballooned inrecent years.