DoD Moves to Order Military Lawyers to Be Immigration Judges

The Defense Department is planning to begin involuntarily activating military lawyers to serve as immigration judges and to represent the government in cases involving detained migrant children, according to recent recruitment emails.

Reserve lawyers in the Marine Corps received a June 26 email seeking an immigration judge to serve a six-month stint “in your hometown” starting in September.

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The message from Lt. Col. Lucas Kunce follows a June 3 email he sent to the same reserve community asking for a volunteer to work as an attorney at the Department of Health and Human Services for 270 days under “involuntary activation orders,” according to a copy reviewed by Bloomberg Law. The requested lawyer would represent the government in cases filed by unaccompanied migrant children being held in custody by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement.

The moves expand the use of the military under President Donald Trump’s administration as it works to recruit as many people as possible to help carry out and defend its ever-growing detention and deportation agenda. Migrant children’s ballooning time in government custody has also prompted congressional scrutiny over their treatment.

The military lawyers’ assignments, whether elective or compelled, are deemed “involuntary orders.” That designation allows for an individual to receive a reduced retirement age and other potential benefits, according to the email.

The offers come as military lawyers have recently received offers to serve as special assistant US attorneys as federal prosecutors’ offices have been hit with a wave of career lawyer exits under Trump’s second term. One June 18 email sent to Marine Corps reserve attorneys requested a volunteer under “involuntary activation orders” to serve for six months at the US attorney’s office in the Southern District of Texas, according to a copy reviewed by Bloomberg Law.

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The activation mentioned in the June 26 email is being offered to attorneys in the Marine Corps reserve to serve at one of the courts that handle asylum claims and adjudicate orders to remove migrants. The appointment would start with two weeks of training at the EOIR headquarters in Falls Church, Va., with the remainder of the time at a court in the lawyer’s “home area,” according to the copy obtained by Bloomberg Law.

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