Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he sent a proposal to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to allow Florida National Guard members to serve as immigration judges. “We’re ready, willing and able to take it to the next level. We have submitted plans to DHS to say 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, even putting some of our people in the National Guard in line to serve as immigration Judges to process this. We can do it,” DeSantis said. WATCH: BREAKING: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just said he has submitted plans to President Trump's DHS that would allow Florida National Guard members to become immigration judges. This would help swiften the process of deportations. "From apprehension to detention, even putting… pic.twitter.com/FLxralMQWf — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 1, 2025 Per Florida’s Voice: A state official told Florida’s Voice that JAG officers could take on the role – and only need authoritative approval from the federal government to serve as immigration judges. The process is administrative. “I want to thank the federal agencies that have really led the way. It’s been a welcome change here in the state of Florida, and also thank all of our state and local partners who worked really, really hard for this operation, but have been doing this now for for many months,” he said. “We’re proud to have been the first state out of the gate, but we view this as just the beginning. We think that the best is still yet to come.” TODAY: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis submits plans to President Trump to allow Florida National Guard members to become immigration judges. Great idea. pic.twitter.com/61QTVJ41QZ — Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) May 1, 2025 'Off to the races': @GovRonDeSantis wants National Guard members to serve as immigration Judges Reporting by @AGGancarskihttps://t.co/ZYdjnsyDLJ#FlaPol pic.twitter.com/31tLPskl4H — Florida Politics (@Fla_Pol) May 1, 2025 Newsweek reports: At a Thursday press conference, DeSantis appeared alongside Department of Homeland Security officials to promote Operation Tidal Wave. The Florida-led initiative partnered with federal, state, and local law enforcement to apprehend immigrants without legal status in the state. Florida has experienced broad collaboration between federal immigration authorities and local state agencies, as the administration mobilizes all available resources to carry out mass deportations—a key pledge of President Trump’s return to the White House. DeSantis is seeking to expand the state’s role beyond making arrests to include adjudication, proposing the use of National Guard members as immigration judges—pending approval from the Trump administration. “These are not Article 3 judges. They are executive branch employees, basically. We can absolutely deputize judge advocates from our National Guard units to serve as immigration judges,” he added. The Governor brushed aside concerns about due process, claiming there are “tens of thousands of illegal aliens in Florida at a minimum that have already been issued final orders of removal, and there’s hundreds of thousands of them throughout the United States of America.”