Florida National Guard to Become Immigration Judges Under Proposal
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is seeking President Donald Trump's approval to deputize the National Guard to serve as immigration judges.
"We're ready, willing and able to take it to the next level. We have submitted plans to DHS to say if this is approved, we will go off to the races. And we will be able to do really from soup to nuts, from apprehension to detention, even putting some of our people in the National Guard in line to serve as immigration Judges to process this. We can do it," DeSantis said on Thursday.
Newsweek has contacted the office of Governor DeSantis for further comment via email outside of normal office hours.
Why It Matters
At a Thursday press conference, DeSantis appeared alongside Department of Homeland Security officials to promote Operation Tidal Wave. The Florida-led initiative partnered with federal, state, and local law enforcement to apprehend immigrants without legal status in the state.
Florida has experienced broad collaboration between federal immigration authorities and local state agencies, as the administration mobilizes all available resources to carry out mass deportations—a key pledge of President Trump's return to the White House.
Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference about a recent immigration enforcement operation, at the South Florida office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Enforcement and Removal Operations, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in...
Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference about a recent immigration enforcement operation, at the South Florida office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Enforcement and Removal Operations, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Miramar, Florida. More
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
What To Know
DeSantis is seeking to expand the state's role beyond making arrests to include adjudication, proposing the use of National Guard members as immigration judges—pending approval from the Trump administration.
"These are not Article 3 judges. They are executive branch employees, basically. We can absolutely deputize judge advocates from our National Guard units to serve as immigration judges," he added.
The Governor brushed aside concerns about due process, claiming there are "tens of thousands of illegal aliens in Florida at a minimum that have already been issued final orders of removal, and there's hundreds of thousands of them throughout the United States of America."
"So they've had a lot of process. They've been ordered to be removed," DeSantis said. "They have not complied with those removal orders, and that's a very, very high priority for our state efforts to continue to identify those individuals and make sure that they return to their country of origin."
Immigration courts are facing significant strain, with a backlog surpassing 3.7 million cases, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Asylum-seekers frequently endure years of waiting for a decision. There is widespread political backing for increasing the number of judges and staff to help alleviate the workload.
DeSantis explained that the appointees would not be federal judges, who are appointed by the president under Article III of the Constitution. Instead, he plans to designate Judge Advocate Generals from the Florida National Guard, who already hold their positions, to serve as immigration judges.
Immigrant rights advocates hit back at DeSantis over the plans, saying his proposals would violate constitutional rights and due process protections.
"To Governor DeSantis, we would remind that, yes, the U.S. Constitution guarantees due process rights to all individuals, regardless of immigration legal status. And no, immigration hearings are not 'O.J. Simpson trials' as he hyperbolically but very seriously claimed during today's pantomime," Adriana Rivera, of the Florida Immigrant Coalition said in a statement shared with Newsweek.
It comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Thursday that 1,120 individuals were arrested during a weeklong enforcement operation carried out with the help of the state of Florida, 13 local sheriff's departments, and other federal agencies, including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Among those taken into custody were 378 immigrants with final orders of removal. The operation also targeted known suspected gang members, including members of notorious crime syndicates such as MS-13, Tren de Aragua (TDA), Barrio Azteca, and the 18th Street Gang.
What People Are Saying
DeSantis said at a press conference on Thursday: "If we get the sign-off from DHS, we can expand detention space very quickly in Florida. I mean, just think about it. I mean, you guys who are Florida based, you know when we have hurricanes, we end up setting up locations for tens of thousands of linemen, right? Do that very, very quickly. So we have the capacity to set it up quickly, but we're not going to do that without the approval of the Department of Homeland Security."
Rivera said in a statement: "Notable moments of today's theater included the judicial branch being blamed for upholding the U.S. Constitution. This is par for the course and taken out of the same autocratic handbook that Trump is reading from when their plans run into the obvious constitutional checks and balances masterfully crafted by our founders.
"As anyone who ever studied civics knows, due process is a fundamental right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. It protects people against arbitrary government decisions and ensures fairness in legal matters. Both citizens and noncitizens in the U.S. have the right to due process, a chance to defend their rights and to have a fair hearing.
Eric Daugherty, Assistant News Director at Florida's Voice said in a post on X: "This would help swiften the process of deportations."
What Happens Next
Governor DeSantis's proposal to have National Guard members serve as immigration judges is unprecedented and would likely face legal challenges.
However, the move aligns with President Trump's hard-line agenda and it could help expedite the Republican's plot to carry out mass deportations.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
29 minutes ago
- Politico
George Floyd unrest informs Trump's response to Los Angeles protests
President Donald Trump's response to the Los Angeles protests isn't just an opportunity to battle with a Democratic governor over his signature issue. The president sees it as a chance to redo his first-term response to a wave of civil unrest. As protests broke out after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, Trump's instincts were to deploy thousands of active-duty troops across U.S. cities. But some administration officials resisted the idea and reportedly urged the president against invoking the Insurrection Act to do so. Five years later, Trump sees something familiar as protests rage across Los Angeles in response to the administration's immigration raids. He moved quickly to deploy 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to support law enforcement, a decision he credited on Tuesday with preventing a 'great City' from 'burning to the ground.' And he repeatedly signaled his willingness to invoke the Insurrection Act if protests continue to escalate. There's a chief motivating factor driving Trump's aggressive response: The president is eager to avoid a repeat of the summer of protest that followed a Minneapolis police officer's killing of Floyd. The civil unrest added another layer to the turmoil facing Trump, as the country reeled from the Covid pandemic and voters prepared to return to the ballot box. And this time, he has stacked his Cabinet with loyalists and is less restrained by officials such as those in his first administration who feared deploying active-duty military troops would further inflame tensions and be viewed as a step toward martial law. 'The president is trusting his gut here,' said a person close to the White House, granted anonymity to discuss the president's response, reflecting back to former Chair of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper breaking with Trump's desire to send troops. 'He thinks the Milleys and the Espers of the world, five years ago, they gave him bad advice on that stuff.' Administration officials and allies say the president's hardline approach also sends a warning to other city and state leaders as anti-ICE protests spread beyond Los Angeles. 'In 2020, I was a governor of a neighboring state to Tim Walz and watched him let his city burn,' Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the Oval Office on Tuesday. 'The president and I have talked about this in the past: He was not going to let that happen to another city and to another community, where a bad governor made a bad decision.' It's yet another example of the president acting on his belief that he has a governing mandate from his 2024 comeback, which aides and allies attribute in large part to immigration and, specifically, the president's vow to deport undocumented immigrants. 'Is the left going to be able to take this over and turn rules-based immigration into yet another fight about how America is racist?' said Matt Schlapp, a Trump confidant and chair of the American Conservative Union. 'The No. 1 reason Donald Trump got reelected was the border. He's implementing exactly what he said he would do, and out of nowhere, there's violence in the streets, there's fire bombs, there's attacks on cops.' A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the administration's thinking, said immigration enforcement has continued across the country despite the protests: 'Individuals in other cities should realize that rioting will not prevent immigration enforcement operations in their cities as well.' Trump has repeatedly referred to the protesters as 'insurrectionists' and 'violent insurrectionist mobs,' and his rhetoric intensified on Tuesday as he said the protests amount to an 'invasion' that threatens U.S. 'sovereignty' and that he will now allow 'an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.' He condemned what he called 'lawlessness' and the burning of the American flag, suggesting it should be punished with a year in prison — echoing his rhetoric from June 2020. But he also said the Los Angeles protests are not yet an insurrection — and that he will only invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement, if it escalates to that point. The president on Sunday directed Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi to take 'all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles' and 'put an end to these Migrant riots.' 'Mark Esper fought like the dickens to avoid the Insurrection Act. He wasn't the only one. So did Attorney General [Bill] Barr, and so forth,' said Ken Cuccinelli, who served as Trump's deputy of Homeland Security during the first term. 'Whereas, Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth are more along the lines of just giving advice, and 'if it's the route you want to go, Mr. President, we'll salute and we'll move right down that path.' And that speaks to a unity in government that didn't exist in the first term.' The Trump administration's response has alarmed California Democrats, who warn that what's happening in their state paves the way for the president to deploy the military nationwide to enact his immigration agenda. The president has already militarized the border to an unprecedented degree, with military, immigration and legal experts questioning the legality of the approach and warning of potential violations to the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law that generally prohibits active-duty troops from being used in domestic law enforcement. Trump's decision to deploy troops has also set off a legal firestorm: California sued the administration for deploying the National Guard without consultation, arguing that using the military to quell the immigration protests is illegal and unconstitutional. Gov. Gavin Newsom filed another suit on Tuesday, asking a federal judge for a restraining order to block Hegseth from ordering troops to support immigration raids in the city 'immediately.' 'There is no invasion or rebellion in Los Angeles; there is civil unrest that is no different from episodes that regularly occur in communities throughout the country, and that is capable of being contained by state and local authorities working together,' California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other lawyers wrote in the new motion. Rallies protesting the administration's ICE raids and immigration agenda spread across U.S. cities this week. And so-called 'No Kings' rallies, coinciding with the president's military parade in Washington on Saturday, are planned in more than 1,800 cities across the country, including the nation's capital. Trump warned on Tuesday that any protests during this weekend's parade will be met with 'very heavy force.' 'If there's any protester who wants to come out, they will be met with very big force,' the president said in the Oval Office. 'I haven't even heard about a protest, but [there are] people that hate our country.' Dasha Burns contributed to this report.
UPI
30 minutes ago
- UPI
Defense Secretary Hegseth defends LA deployments at Capitol Hill hearing
1 of 5 | Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Hegseth argued "ICE has the right to safely conduct operations," as he defended the recent deployment of troops to Los Angeles. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo June 10 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sparred with Democrats on Capitol Hill on Tuesday over the decision to send 5,000 Marines and National Guard troops into Los Angeles as some protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids turned violent. Hegseth, a former National Guardsman, testified before the House Appropriations subcommittee, where he defended the decision to deploy troops and the role of ICE. "We ought to be able to enforce immigration law in this country," Hegseth testified. "I think we're entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland." "In Los Angeles, we believed ICE had the right to safely conduct operations," Hegseth added. "We deployed National Guard and the Marines to protect them." Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., asked Hegseth why he was sending "war fighters to cities to interact with civilians?" "ICE agents need to be able to do their job," Hegseth responded. "They are being attacked for doing their job, which is deporting illegal criminals. The governor of California has failed to protect his people, along with the mayor of Los Angeles. And so President Trump has said he will protect our agents and our Guard and Marines." Aguilar fired back against Hegseth's answer and said, "The law also says Mr. Secretary that the orders for these purposes shall be issued through governors of the states." Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota also sparred with Hegseth about the cost of deploying the National Guard and Marines, and whether their absence would impact trainings in other parts of the country. The two talked over each other repeatedly as Hegseth referenced the George Floyd murder protests and accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz of "abandoning a police precinct" in 2020. "We're both from Minnesota. I was in the Twin Cities during the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets for days," said McCollum. "At no point did we need Marines to be deployed. This is a deeply unfair position to put our Marines in. Their service should be honored. It should not be exploited." "You are right," Hegseth testified. "We are both originally from Minnesota. Which is why I recall 2020 quite well, when Gov. Walz abandoned a police precinct and allowed it to be burned to the ground -- and also allowed five days of chaos to occur inside the streets of Minneapolis." "We believe that ICE has the right to safely conduct operations in any state and any jurisdiction in the country," Hegseth continued. "Especially after 21 million illegals have crossed our border under the previous administration. ICE should be able to do their job." "Chairman, I have limited time," McCollum declared. "I asked a budget question." After repeated questioning about the budget by several committee members, Hegseth finally gave an answer. "We have a 13% increase in our defense budget and we will have the capability to cover contingencies, which is something the National Guard and the Marines plan for. So we have the funding to cover contingencies, especially ones as important as maintaining law and order in a major American city," Hegseth testified. During the hearing, Hegseth was also questioned about spending cuts to foreign aid programs, including USAID, and staffing cuts at the Defense Department, to which he argued the administration is reducing any program considered "wasteful and duplicitous."
Time Magazine
34 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
More Than 1,500 ‘No Kings' Protests Planned Amid Trump Crackdown on L.A. Demonstrations
More than 1,500 ' No Kings Day ' demonstrations are set to take place across the U.S. this weekend to protest the Trump Administration as President Donald Trump holds a military parade in Washington, D.C. The demonstrations will take place all over the country on Saturday, coinciding with the parade Trump has planned to mark the U.S. Army's 250th birthday. Ezra Levin, the co-founder and co-executive director of the progressive organization Indivisible that's behind 'No Kings Day,' told MSNBC on Monday that the protests—originally announced last month—have generated 'overwhelming interest' in the aftermath of the Administration's response to the immigration-related protests in Los Angeles. 'In America, we don't do kings,' reads a website for the events. 'They've defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services. The corruption has gone too. Far.' The protests will follow days of demonstrations in L.A. over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids targeting undocumented immigrants. In a rare and controversial exercise of presidential power, Trump over the weekend mobilized the National Guard—against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom—to quell the protests in the L.A. area, which had been largely peaceful. The move sparked immediate outcry from Democratic politicians, advocacy organizations, and legal experts. Trump has since escalated federal involvement by deploying hundreds of Marines and thousands of additional National Guard troops to the city. 'No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance. From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we're taking action to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like,' the 'No Kings Day' description said. 'On June 14th, we're showing up everywhere [Trump] isn't—to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings.' The event's organizers aren't holding a protest in D.C. itself, saying they want to make the demonstrations elsewhere the story of the day rather than allowing Saturday's military parade to be 'the center of gravity.' On Tuesday, Trump warned people planning to protest at the parade that they would face 'very big force.' 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force,' Trump said. 'And I haven't even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.'
