In an attempt to reduce the out-of-control backlog of U.S. immigration courts, the Department of War (DOW) plans to authorize 600 military attorneys to serve as temporary immigration judges who work for the Department of Justice, reports the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The move is part of the Trump administration's multi-pronged strategy to finally tackle the many overlapping crises plaguing our immigration system.
In a statement, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell revealed that the DOW was "identifying qualified Judge Advocates and civilian attorneys for details to serve" in such a capacity. Around 150 of the authorized attorneys potentially started work the first week of September with the rest undergoing two weeks of training.
Ira Mehlman is media director for FAIR. He says the judicial system is so overloaded that it has ceased to function effectively.
"You had people who were coming in at the height of the crisis who knew that they weren't going to get a court date for five, six, or seven years. That was a great opportunity to come here, to be granted work authorization, to live here, and to establish other reasons to be allowed to remain in the country," explains Mehlman.
He says that they’ve got to be able to move this massive number of people who are already in the system through the system.
"We've effectively stopped more people from coming in, but the backlog is enormous. You need additional judges to be able to clear these cases, to make determinations about who deserves to be here and who should be sent home, but even the addition of these judges is still only dealing with a small percentage of the problem,” states Mehlman.
He concludes by saying that it is going to take a really long time in order “to clean up the mess that was left by the previous administration."
