Hundreds of military and civilian lawyers working for the United States Department of Defense (DOD) will serve as immigration judges temporarily, officials have said, in the latest move by President Donald Trump’s administration to involve the military in US domestic affairs.

“These DOD attorneys will augment existing resources to help further combat a backlog of cases by presiding over immigration hearings,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on Tuesday.

Military lawyers are not trained to serve as immigration judges, and one US official told the Reuters news agency that even with additional training, it would be difficult for military lawyers to act as judges.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Departm

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