As part of the Big Beautiful Bill Act that was passed earlier this year in order to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans by increasing the national debt by over a trillion dollars, there was a provision that changed the rule for the appointing of Immigration Judges (IJ) and Temporary Immigration Judges (TIJ). Prior to this 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 attorneys with at least 10 years of legal experience in the field of immigration law. Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill that was passed earlier this year included some interesting changes to the immigration laws that you probably didn’t hear discussed on the news and that many of the members of Congress probably didn’t even consider before voting.

1. The AG is now allowed to appoint literally any lawyer to serve as a Temporary Immigration Judge regardless of their prior experience or training, or even clear conflicts of interest (like appointing an attorney from the DHS, the other party in the proceedings).
2. A Temporary Immigration Judge can have their six month term renewed indefinitely.
3. When arrested by ICE the vast majority of immigrants who are over the age of 14 are now subject to a $5,000 “apprehension fee” if they had entered the US improperly at some time in the past.
4. The word noncitizen has been changed to “alien” just because President Trump and Stephen Miller want to do anything they can to shame immigrants and to manipulate public sentiment by using extreme language to paint a picture in the minds of Americans of a fictional invasion of blood-thirsty lunatics who were “set loose from insane asylums¹ and prisons.”

New Eligibility Rule for Immigration Judges

The new rule will permit the director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) and Attorney General Pam Bondi, “to designate or select any attorney to serve as a TIJ” for six-month stints, however, there is no cap to the number of extensions that it may grant. In practice Temporary Immigration Judges appointed under this Final Rule may remain on the bench indefinitely. Employees may come to EOIR as details from Justice or other agencies, or as newly hired “special government employees.” In response to public comments the DOJ states that temporary judges have immigration law experience no longer “serves EOIR’s interest.”

The Department further declined to include any requirements for training these new TIJ’s despite them having no past experience in or knowledge of immigration law. They also declined to put any limitations on the DOJ using DHS attorneys as temporary judges. This means that immigrant respondents may find themselves in proceedings before a judge who is actually from the office that is prosecuting them who is only sitting as a temporary judge on the case. It is completely absurd as explained in detail here.

You can find the new Final Rule at the bottom of this post. You can read more about the military immigration judges here and here.

Secretary of Defense Approves 600 Military Lawyers to Serve as Immigration Judges

The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth has now approved the appointment of 600 military JAG lawyers to serve as Temporary Immigration Judge’s throughout the country.

There are some ethical rules and obligations for military lawyers that are fundamentally at odds with the ethical rules for immigration judges. By regulation and guidelines, immigration judges are obligated to be impartial. Military JAG lawyers remain bound to follow the Uniform Code of Military Justice which requires JAGs to obey a lawful order. Failing to do so risks career consequences or even court martial. That obligation raises questions about whether JAGs would be placed in a position where it would be impossible to be truly impartial. A JAG’s legal and ethical obligations to follow orders will make it difficult, if not impossible, to provide a truly fair hearing to the immigrants in their courtroom, resulting in serious constitutional implications.

The Fifth Amendment guarantees due process regardless of immigration status, a right the Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed this year. The Court has also made clear that “a fair trial in a fair tribunal is a basic requirement of due process.” A fair trial in a fair tribunal cannot mean a hearing before a government employee who is generally obligated to follow orders, may have little to no knowledge of immigration law or procedures, and was handpicked by the secretary of defense at the request of the attorney general. Wrong decisions in immigration court can have devastating consequences for individuals and their families, including deporting someone to a country where they will be persecuted or separating family members.

Read more about the hundreds of military attorneys who will be serving as immigration judges.

And now that they have the 600 military lawyers to serve as IJ’s Trump has fired over 100 current Immigration judges for approving too many asylum application, providing immigrants too much due process, or for being women or immigrants themselves.

Replacing Words in the Regulations

There is another ridiculous rule change made in this Final Rule. Just as the Trump Administration decided to waste nearly a billion taxpayer dollars renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War in order to declare the United States’ intention to use its military as an aggressor in the future rather than only in defense of the country, they are also changing several words everywhere they appear in the regulations and Immigration Practice Manual. The table below is taken directly from the final rule and indicates the words (left) that will be replaced and the words they will be replaced with (right).