Justice Department is Recruiting Military Lawyers as Immigration Prosecutors in Major Cities

The appointments would run 179 days, beginning Oct. 13 or later with responsibilities "expected to be immigration related."

The Justice Department is recruiting active-duty and reserve military lawyers to serve as temporary federal prosecutors handling immigration cases in Los Angeles, New York and Sacramento, as part of an effort to support what officials have described as surges in federal law enforcement.

A U.S. Marine Corps major emailed military attorneys last week advertising positions for officers of any rank—active or reserve—to serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys in the Southern District of New York, the Central District of California and the Eastern District of California, Bloomberg Law reported, citing a Department of Defense email it reviewed.

The appointments would run 179 days, beginning Oct. 13 or later, and the email said the work would "support areas with an increase in prosecutions associated with a surge in federal law enforcement efforts," with responsibilities "expected to be immigration related."

Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels told Bloomberg Law that the department relies on special assistant U.S. attorneys "from many federal agencies to contribute to DOJ's public safety mission" and that it will "continue to hire lawyers from every corner of the country who want to put those who prey on Americans in jail."

Military.com reached out to the DOJ and Defense Department for more information about the plan, including how many military attorneys would be detailed and what they would be asked to do.

A Practice With Legal Precedent

Military lawyers serving as federal prosecutors is neither new nor legally novel. Army regulations allow judge advocates to be appointed as special assistant U.S. attorneys under federal law.

The Justice Department has long brought on attorneys detailed from other federal agencies to supplement its ranks.

A military attorney appointed as a prosecutor acts in a legal capacity under Justice Department authority, which differs from deploying military personnel to carry out ordinary civilian policing.

In practice, they would be working as lawyers in a courtroom rather than agents making arrests.

What Makes Things Different Now

In January 2026, the administration assigned 20 military lawyers from all four armed services to serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys in Memphis, Tenn. They prosecuted the cases tied to a federal task force operating there.

What former prosecutors told Bloomberg Law makes the new effort notable is not that military lawyers can serve as prosecutors, but the scale and scope of using them in the Southern District of New York.

The Manhattan office is known for rigorous hiring and has historically taken on prosecutors from other agencies only occasionally, former office leaders said, and not from the military to advance a major White House priority.

Former Manhattan officials also pointed to a mismatch. One area where the office could reportedly use help is defending the government against a wave of civil claims challenging the administration's policy of detaining immigrants without bond.

Several basic questions remain unanswered. It is not clear how many attorneys the government ultimately intends to bring in, which branches will supply them, what cases they will be assigned in each district, or whether all three surges will proceed as described.

The positions are set to begin Oct. 13 or later, according to the aforementioned email.

How large a role military attorneys will ultimately play remains unclear, and the scope of the enforcement surges they would support has not been made public.