ORLANDO, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis wants approval from the Department of Homeland Security to allow Florida National Guard members to serve as immigration judges. He’s looking at pulling judge advocates from the Florida National Guard to help expedite deportation.
This all came up at a news conference in Miramar on Thursday, where officials discussed Operation Tidal Wave.
1,120 undocumented immigrants were arrested within 6 days. Many of them who did not have final deportation orders must appear before an immigration judge.
“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,” DeSantis said.
This is as state officials call Florida ICE’s blueprint for handling mass deportations across the country.
These judge advocates primarily practice in administrative or military law-- not immigration.
Immigration attorney Nayef Mubarak says he would be concerned if one of these appointed national guard members were to be a judge in front of ones of his clients.
“My concern here would be, as they’re properly training to understand the law, immigration is one of the largest bodies of law. It’s more than removal,” Mubarak said. “It takes a lot to understand who qualifies for relief and who doesn’t.”
There’s also concern about whether the move would expedite cases too quickly.
Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet who was undocumented in the U.S. for 15 years says it would.
“It would essentially destroy due process. Our court system exists, so people have a day at court, so they can actually fight their case,” Sousa-Lazaballet said.
DeSantis says there’s no issues with deputizing these Florida National Guard members.
“These are not Article III judges. They are executive branch employees, basically. We can absolutely deputize judge advocates from our National Guard units. To serve as immigration judges. We can do other to do that. So we’ll help on that piece as well,” DeSantis said.
He had this to say when asked about due process.
“Now, we’re in a situation where the federal government is doing, enforcing the law, and the courts are saying, well, no, you really can’t do that. People need to have some O.J. Simpson-type trial before they can be deported. It’s nuts. And it’s a heads-they-win, tails-we-lose for the country, to where people come in unimpeded, and it’s virtually impossible for them to go,” DeSantis said.
Now, this has yet to be approved by the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigration advocates and lawyers we spoke to say they believe this would be challenged in court.
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