The Associated Press reported that on August 27, 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth authorized up to 600 military lawyers to serve as Temporary Immigration Judges (“TIJs”) (Associated Press, September 2, 2025). Secretary Hegseth’s authorization is based on a new final rule which changed the eligibility requirements for TIJs (90 FR 41883-41889, August 28, 2025).

How Military Lawyers Will Be Assigned to be TIJs

Secretary Hegseth’s memo provides that the military will begin assigning groups of 150 military lawyers to the Department of Justice to serve as TIJs. The Executive Office for Immigration Review is part of the Department of Justice. According to the AP report, these military lawyers will be assigned to the Department of Justice “as soon as practicable.”

How Long Do TIJs Serve?

Under regulation (8 C.F.R. 1003.10(e)(1)), TIJs may serve “for renewable terms not to exceed six months, subject to all applicable statutory and regulatory limitations on the temporary service.” The final rule contemplates that the service of some of the TIJs may be extended beyond the initial six month period: “Because a TIJ’s term, whether initial or extended, may not exceed six months, every TIJ will be evaluated at least every six months” (90 FR 41885).

Which Military Lawyers Are Eligible?

“Prior to [the new final rule], individuals eligible to be designated as TIJs were limited to former IJs and Appellate Immigration Judges, EOIR administrative law judges…, or ALJs retired from EOIR, ALJs from other Executive Branch agencies with the consent of their agencies, and Department [of Justice] attorneys with at least 10 years of legal experience in the field of immigration law” (90 FR 41883).

The amended regulation governing TIJs is found at 8 C.F.R. 1003.10(e)(1). It provides:

Designation. The Director, subject to the approval of the Attorney General, is authorized to designate or select temporary immigration judges as provided in this paragraph (e). The Director may designate or select, with the approval of the Attorney General, any attorney to serve as a temporary immigration judge for renewable terms not to exceed six months, subject to all applicable statutory and regulatory limitations on the temporary service. (Emphasis added.)

The new rule expands eligibility for service as a TIJ. TIJ eligibility was previously limited to former Immigration Judges, Department of Justice attorneys who met certain immigration law experience benchmarks, and Administrative Law Judges from other Federal government departments. The new rule allows for lawyers from other Federal government agencies to be designated as TIJs. 8 C.F.R. 1003.10(e)(3) provides that “[t]he Chief Immigration Judge is responsible for the overall oversight and management and utilization of the temporary immigration judges … [a]nd [s]hall ensure that each temporary immigration judge has received a suitable level of training…”

How Will the Military Lawyer TIJs be Trained?

According to the final rule, “TIJs will receive the same ‘comprehensive, continuing training and support’ by EOIR (90 FR 41884). The EOIR has published an overview of how it trains new Immigration Judges (“IJs”) (EOIR Fact Sheet, June 2022).

Why is this Change Being Implemented?

The EOIR announced on September 4, 2025, that it has completed a record 722,000 cases during the first 11 months of FY-2025 (EOIR Announces Significant Immigration Court Milestones, September 4, 2025). However, the EOIR still has just under 3.75 million pending cases. There were just 659,000 pending cases at the end of FY 2025 (Center for Immigration Studies (“CIS”), September 5, 2025).

The Associated Press report notes that more than 100 IJs have taken deferred resignations during the second Trump Administration and that 17 IJs were terminated by the Department, leaving close to 600 IJs. The CIS report notes that there were 735 IJs at the end of FY 2024. CIS notes that “the backlog has declined in the past nine months, but the average immigration judge must still juggle a docket of more than 5,500 cases…”

Finally, a new law (One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119–21, sec. 100054(1)(B), 139 Stat. 72 (2025)) limits the number of full IJs to 800 beginning on November 1, 2028 (see 90 FR 41883). TIJs are not subject to this upcoming limit.

What Effect the New Military Lawyer TIJs Have?

Adding 600 TIJs would nearly double the current number of IJs, and the increase would be substantial even if the final number is short of the 600 authorized by Secretary Hegseth. The increase is part of an effort by the Trump Administration to expeditiously conclude pending immigration court matters and reduce the court’s backlog.

There are arguments for and against the move. The AP quoted a former IJ named Jennifer Peyton who questioned whether the new TIJs would be able to quickly acclimate to the complexities of immigration law and whether DOJ would hire sufficient administrative workers to support the new IJs. Conversely, CIS argues that immigration law experience is not a prerequisite to being hired as a full-time IJ. Readers may be interested in reading some of our past new IJ round-ups to glean an idea of the backgrounds of recent IJ hires (see e.g., New IJs in late 2020 and April 2021).

Individuals appearing before immigration courts and practitioners have no control over which IJ hears a particular case, much less the IJ hiring process. In light of the fact that we may have hundreds of new TIJs with little-to-no prior experience in immigration law, it will be important for practitioners to present their cases clearly and concisely will appropriate references to controlling precedents to ensure that TIJs with limited experience have a full understanding of the equities in favor of aliens appearing in immigration court.

As always, we recommend that aliens who are placed in removal proceedings consult an experienced immigration attorney for case-specific guidance. This is especially important in cases where the alien believes that he or she may have a basis for contesting removal charges or is applying for a form of relief or protection such as adjustment of status, cancellation of removal, or asylum.