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Rep. Jayapal flays plan to appoint military lawyers as immigration judges
Up to 600 Judge Advocates from the active duty, National Guard, and reserve ranks have been called in to fill vacanies in the Immigration Review agency.
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Malvika Choudhary - Wed, 17, Sep 2025
- 13:10 EDT
- 16
Pramila Jayapal / Wikipedia
Indian American congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) voiced concern over the Trump administration’s plan to temporarily appoint hundreds of military lawyers as immigration judges.
As Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, Jayapal joined colleagues Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), and Hank Johnson (GA-04) to issue a warning that the decision to fill vacancies with 600 military lawyers who lack immigration law experience would jeopardize due process in one of the most complex areas of federal law.
Also Read: Rep. Jayapal moves to ban congressional stock trading
“Bringing in hundreds of judges for potentially only six-month periods is a recipe for further chaos in the immigration courts,” the Members wrote in a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The lawmakers pointed out that the move departs from previous practice, under which temporary immigration judges were required to have significant experience—either as former appellate immigration judges, EOIR administrative law judges, or attorneys with more than a decade of immigration law practice.
They also attributed the shortage of judges partly to the Trump administration, noting that nearly 16 percent of the workforce has departed through firings or retirements. No additional translators, clerks, or administrative staff have been promised to support the new judges, they highlighted.
“This decision undermines our entire immigration system and due process, weakening individuals’ ability to get a fair day in court,” they said urging EOIR to reverse the decision, stressing that immigration proceedings often involve life-or-death consequences and demand specialized legal expertise.
The EOIR, an agency within the Department of Justice, oversees the nation’s immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals. It is responsible for conducting removal proceedings and adjudicating asylum, deportation, and other immigration cases. The agency currently faces a record backlog of more than 3.5 million cases.
To address the shortage of judges, EOIR, working with the Department of Defense, has authorized the appointment of up to 600 Judge Advocates from the active duty, National Guard, and reserve ranks for terms of up to 179 days.
The plan has also drawn scrutiny over possible conflicts with the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts military involvement in civilian law enforcement. Senate Democrats have separately raised concerns that pulling large numbers of Judge Advocates from military duties could weaken the armed services’ own justice system, particularly at a time when reforms are underway to strengthen prosecutions of serious crimes.
Jayapal and her colleagues have pressed EOIR to explain how the temporary judges will be trained, which cases they will oversee, and whether they will be supervised.
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