Lay Judges for a Lawless Crisis: How Trump Could Clear Biden's Immigration Backlog

America has a problem that lawyers cannot fix. The United States immigration court system, tasked with deciding who may lawfully remain in the country, has collapsed under the weight of an unprecedented backlog. That backlog, now exceeding three million pending cases, is not merely a bureaucratic inconvenience, it is a constitutional affront, a resource strain, and a slow-motion amnesty for millions of illegal entrants. Each judge currently juggles nearly 5,000 cases, a workload that renders justice not delayed but defeated. To resolve this, President Trump should authorize Attorney General Pam Bondi to establish a temporary corps of immigration judges who are not lawyers. Trained, qualified, and fully empowered, these non-attorney adjudicators would hold remote hearings, issue binding rulings, and restore order to a system buckling under the weight of Biden's border collapse.

Critics will howl that only lawyers can serve as judges. But this is a category error, not a constitutional constraint. Immigration courts are administrative tribunals, not Article III courts. They exist within the executive branch, under the direct supervision of the Attorney General. Under existing regulations, the President, through the Attorney General, can designate temporary immigration judges without congressional approval. This authority falls squarely within the executive branch's control of administrative tribunals. Thus, a temporary cadre of non-lawyer adjudicators can be lawfully appointed through existing executive authority.

Administrative law judges (ALJs), who preside over thousands of federal hearings each year in agencies ranging from Social Security to the Securities and Exchange Commission, are another clear example. Some ALJs are attorneys, but they are not required by the Constitution or federal statute to be lawyers. The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 556-557, governs ALJs but does not mandate that they hold law degrees. The core point remains: these judges do not serve under Article III, and their authority is rooted in executive delegation, not constitutional permanence. Immigration judges function within the same structure.

There is no constitutional requirement that a judge, even in a courtroom, possess a Juris Doctor. In fact, thirty-two states allow non-lawyers to serve as judges in certain courts. They decide evictions, small claims, and sometimes criminal cases. Their authority is lawful, their decisions binding, and their service indispensable.

Why is this necessary? The answer was articulated with clarity by Vice President JD Vance: "Joe Biden allowed approximately 20 million illegal aliens into our country. This placed extraordinary burdens on our country, our schools, hospitals, housing, and other essential services were overwhelmed. On top of that, many of these illegal aliens committed violent crimes, or facilitated fentanyl and sex trafficking." This is the situation we inherited. The backlog is not an abstract number. It is a rolling amnesty, a silent surrender of our sovereignty. The longer cases go unresolved, the more entrenched illegal aliens become, and the harder it is to enforce the law. Every day of delay rewards lawbreaking and punishes legal immigrants who followed the rules.

But how would a non-lawyer judge function? The answer lies in precedent and practicality. The Department of Justice already trains immigration judges through a six-week program. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services trains asylum officers, many of them non-lawyers, to decide life-or-death asylum cases after just five weeks of instruction. The Trump administration could replicate this with a boot camp for adjudicators. Paralegals, veterans, former immigration officers, even retired police officers could be trained in the essentials of removal law and courtroom procedure. Upon passing a qualifying exam and completing training, they would be sworn in as Temporary Immigration Adjudicators. Their mission would be narrow but vital: to conduct streamlined, time-limited hearings over video conferencing platforms like Zoom, and issue rulings subject to appeal.

Each such judge could resolve roughly 1,000 cases per year. That figure is not aspirational. It is already achieved by some of the most efficient immigration judges today. With 500 judges, the system could resolve two million cases over four years. With 5,000, it could process 20 million. These are not arbitrary numbers. They are the scale of the backlog created by the Biden administration's lawless policies. Remote hearings, already authorized by statute, eliminate geographic barriers and allow cases to be heard quickly and uniformly. Written decisions can be standardized. Continuances can be capped. Evidence can be submitted in advance, arguments time-limited, and rulings rendered orally on the record. Appeals remain available. Due process is preserved. What is lost is only delay.

Some will object that this proposal sacrifices fairness for efficiency. But fairness is not synonymous with slowness. Due process does not require gold-plated litigation for every illegal entrant. It requires notice and an opportunity to be heard. That can be done in 60 minutes via Zoom. Deportation is not the death penalty. It is the enforcement of national borders. If we can train military officers to preside over courts-martial, and allow lay judges to handle criminal arraignments, we can trust trained adjudicators to decide who may stay in the United States.

In fact, the proposal is more fair than the status quo. Under current conditions, respondents wait years for their hearings, during which time their claims weaken, memories fade, and evidence decays. Justice delayed is justice denied, both for those with valid claims and for the American people. A temporary corps of lay judges will ensure that claims are heard promptly and decided efficiently. Those with legitimate asylum claims will receive protection more quickly. Those without will be removed before they can disappear into the shadows.

The administrative state has long suffered from sclerosis. Here is a moment where innovation can serve both justice and national interest. By reimagining the qualifications for immigration judges, the Trump administration can break the procedural bottleneck and fulfill its constitutional duty to execute the law faithfully. This is not unprecedented. This is not radical. It is an administrative solution to an administrative failure. It is also a moral necessity. The people did not vote for amnesty by attrition. They voted for order.

Let us also speak plainly about what the critics of this plan are really defending. They are not worried about judicial competence. They are worried that the hearings will happen too quickly. They are not defending due process. They are defending delay. Their goal is to clog the courts with complexity, to stretch cases across years, and to quietly convert illegal presence into permanent residence. This is not a legal strategy, it is a political subversion. It is, as President Trump has rightly called it, the ratification of Biden's illegal migrant invasion.

By contrast, this proposal respects both the law and the limits of government resources. It does not eliminate hearings. It eliminates gridlock. It does not silence voices. It schedules them promptly. It does not bypass process. It retools process for the sake of national sovereignty. And most importantly, it ensures that every illegal entrant gets a fair hearing, and that the people of the United States get a functioning system of immigration enforcement.

The American people are patient, but they are not fools. They can see what is happening. They understand that millions of people entered this country illegally because they were invited to do so by an administration that refused to enforce the law. And they are rightly demanding that the new administration fix it. That means not just stopping the inflow, but processing the backlog. That means not just talking about the rule of law, but applying it.

That means judges. Thousands of them. And fast.

President Trump has the authority. Attorney General Bondi has the personnel. The training protocols exist. The legal framework is adaptable. The technology is ready. The need is overwhelming. The Constitution permits it. Justice demands it. The people expect it.

Let us begin.

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