Project 2025 - Placing Military Lawyers In Immigration Courts

Yes, Project 2025 and policies associated with it do mention or result in placing military lawyers (Judge Advocate Generals, or JAGs) as temporary immigration court judges. Recent developments in 2025 confirm that up to 600 military lawyers have been authorized to serve as immigration judges within the Justice Department, with some already starting these roles. 

This change came after the Justice Department lowered experience requirements for temporary immigration judges—eliminating the need for prior immigration law expertise and allowed for "any lawyer" to serve for six-month periods. motherjones+5

This move is a response to a major backlog of immigration cases and a significant reduction in the number of civilian immigration judges, many of whom were dismissed or left the bench. 

The new policy means military lawyers, with just two weeks of training, are now presiding over deportation and asylum cases—an unprecedented approach in U.S. immigration court history. npr+2

While the Project 2025 platform itself is focused on accelerating deportations, expanding expedited removal, and changing court procedures for immigrants, this specific measure—deploying military lawyers as judges—has emerged as a concrete administrative action within the broader Project 2025 framework.

docketwise+4
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/trump-administration-military-lawyers-jags-immigration-court-judges/
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/02/g-s1-86691/military-lawyers-immigration-judges-jag
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2025/09/02/military-lawyers-authorized-to-serve-as-temporary-immigration-judges/
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/09/02/pentagon-authorizes-600-military-lawyers-serve-temporary-immigration-judges.html
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-immigration-judges-lawyers-pete-hegseth-military-2123348
https://ctmirror.org/2025/09/02/military-lawyers-immigration-judges-hegseth/
https://www.docketwise.com/blog/trump-2025-immigration-plan/
https://civilrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Project-2025-Immigrants-Rights.pdf
https://lulac.org/project_2025/
https://www.vera.org/news/project-2025-is-a-pathway-to-mass-deportations-and-family-separation
https://www.aila.org/featured-issue-u-s-immigration-courts-under-trump-2-0
https://hias.org/news/trumps-attacks-immigration-court-system-what-you-need-know/