Fast track to deportation.
The Defense Department has approved sending 21 attorneys experienced in criminal trials to southern border states to assist the Justice Department with immigrant cases, according to information from both departments.
Last month, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis authorized the group of lawyers to serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys as requested by the Justice Department, said Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Defense Department spokesman. The attorneys will assist the Justice Department for no more than 179 days, starting as soon as this month.
Both civilian and military attorneys will serve at these requested locations: San Diego and El Centro, Calif.; Yuma, Ariz.; Las Cruces, N.M., and Corpus Christi, Del Rio, El Paso and Laredo, Texas. Some are already on the ground and working in California with the expectation of more to follow, said Kelly Thornton, spokeswoman for the Office of the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California. Other districts declined to comment or said the attorneys have not arrived.
As special assistants, the attorneys are expected to assist in prosecuting misdemeanor improper entry and felony illegally entry cases, said Devin O’Malley, a DOJ spokesman. If these cases go to trial, the attorneys could serve as co-counsel with an assistant U.S. attorney.
This request is intended to fill a staffing shortage until the Justice Department can hire 35 new assistant U.S. attorneys to serve along the southwest border that Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in May.