The ACLU of Massachusetts has filed a first-of-its-kind records lawsuit against the Department of Defense related to the usage of active duty military personnel as immigration judges.
In the suit filed in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts Wednesday, the nonprofit civil rights group seeks the court’s intervention to compel public records concerning the program, which it says the Department of Defense has failed to produce.
“This new program raises a number of troubling and very serious legal questions. Yet the Department of Defense has failed to produce key documents that would help the public understand what the program is, how it works, and what exactly these military lawyers are being ordered to do,” said Dan McFadden, managing attorney at the organization.
The ACLU of Massachusetts filed Freedom of Information Act requests for information about the new program last October.
The records sought include two agency memorandums from last August about the changes; and another memo between the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review — which oversees the nation’s immigration courts — and the Department of War related to temporary immigration judges.
The Trump administration calls the Department of Defense the “Department of War,” but the ACLU of Mass. refers to the department’s name under current law.
McFadden said the program is being portrayed as lawyers who are military reservists being hired as immigration judges.
“There is reason to believe, however, that in fact, that these are not merely lawyers who happen to be military reservists who are being hired in their civilian capacity to be temporary immigration judges,” he said. “But in fact, they’re being activated on active duty orders through the Department of Defense and ordered to operate as temporary immigration judges. That raises a lot of very serious legal questions.”
GBH News has sent media requests to the Departments of Justice and Defense. There appear to be at least three assigned active duty military personnel in Boston and Chelmsford’s immigration courts.
What do immigration judges do?
Among other things, immigration judges are tasked with assessing whether noncitizens arrested by ICE are subject to deportation, and if the accused individual is eligible for any relief from deportation, and whether that should be granted. Immigration judges sign deportation orders, they also hold bond hearings to determine if a person should continue to be jailed or released as a case is being resolved.
“The immigration judge’s decision in the bond hearing is of exceptional consequence to a person’s liberty, because civil immigration cases often take months, and even years to complete,” the complaint notes.
The ACLU of Massachusetts says there’s an “urgent need” for information. Since January 2025, the Trump administration has terminated more than 100 civilian immigration judges. Some have said they believe their firings have been because their previous roles did not align with the Trump administration’s political agenda. Others are suing for wrongful termination.
Last fall, the Department of Justice recruited new immigration judges to serve in positions it called “deportation judges.” Additionally, the Department of Defense separately said it would assign up to 600 military personnel to serve as temporary immigration judges.
Some have already been hired and work in Massachusetts. Jared Monaco is listed at a temporary immigration judge for Boston’s court, and started hearing cases in May. Monaco was in private practice for 21 years, and serves as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps, according to an announcement from the Executive Office of Immigration Review.
Sujata Rodgers and Jason David Thomas are listed as temporary immigration judges for Chelmsford’s court.
Thomas served as the veterans programs manager for the Executive Office of the Trial Court of Massachusetts, and was a staff attorney at in the Public Defender Division of the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services before that. Since 2007, he served in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and currently holds the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Rogers was an administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration, and served as a member of the US Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 2004 to 2009.
Since 2014, the Department of Justice has been authorized by regulation to supplement its immigration judges with temporary ones. But those applicants must meet minimum experience requirements. For over a decade, only former immigration judges or members of the highest immigration court— the Board of Appeals, certain administrative law judges, and Department of Justice attorneys — with 10 years of immigration law experience were eligible to serve.
In August of 2025, the Department of Justice rescinded the experience requirements for temporary immigration judges, to state “any attorney” may be appointed. Shortly after, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion saying military lawyers could serve as temporary immigration judges in certain circumstances.
Former immigration judge George Pappas was fired last July, and listened to cases until his last day. He filed a lawsuit in May alleging the Department of Justice discriminated against him because of his prior work defending immigrants. He says the new judges are unqualified, with most having no immigration law experience.
“They’re basically flying on the hip. It shows that the immigration courts are no longer functioning. When you have that kind of judicial individual making decisions, there’s no due process,” he said. “There’s no fair hearing. But what it does amplify and promote is the acceleration of the administration’s deportation machine.”
Pappas gave the analogy of a two doctors. One is a brain surgeon and the other is a general practitioner.
“You need brain surgery. Who do you think should be conducting the surgery? The brain surgeon. The specialist who has spent years developing that craft and expertise. Same analogy here. It takes years to really craft a good immigration judge.”
