President Donald Trump said he approved of a plan to use National Guard officers as immigration judges in the state. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had been pushing the plan for months as a way to speed up deportations. Former JAGs [say] deploying JAGs as immigration judges in Florida would arguably violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement or “executing the laws,” unless otherwise authorized by the Constitution or Congress. “That runs the gamut from making arrests, investigating crimes, and doing police work, all the way up to guarding prisoners or running courts,” says Daniel Maurer, an Army JAG until 2024 who also taught law at West Point and at the Judge Advocate General’s School in Virginia.
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