CNN report reveals Pentagon directed dozens of active-duty military lawyers to prosecute civilians in Minneapolis

On January 13, 2026, CNN reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had directed the military services to identify 40 judge advocate general (JAG) officers, from which 25 would be selected to serve as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Minneapolis, prosecuting civilians during an intensifying federal immigration-enforcement crackdown. An internal Defense Department request reviewed by CNN sought officers with experience in criminal prosecution, civil litigation, administrative law, and immigration law. The surge of uniformed military lawyers accompanied the expected deployment of roughly 1,000 additional Customs and Border Protection agents to the city, where tensions between federal and local authorities had flared after the fatal, ICE-involved shooting of Renee Nicole Good.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 bars the use of military personnel in domestic civilian law enforcement absent express authorization. Former JAG officers and defense attorneys argued that assigning active-duty uniformed lawyers to prosecute ordinary civilian crimes unrelated to the armed forces conflicted with that prohibition and with Defense Department regulations. Officials familiar with the JAG Corps told CNN that detailing 25 judge advocates to a single city was an unusually large commitment that was draining legal resources from the military.

The Minneapolis detail extended a widening administration practice of routing active-duty military lawyers into federal prosecutions in politically targeted cities. The Pentagon had previously planned to detail 20 JAG officers to Washington, D.C., and, days before the Minneapolis request, detailed 20 to Memphis to support a White House directive to "restore order" there. In September the Pentagon had also authorized up to 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges nationwide, in phases of 150 at a time.

Updates

2026-05-01 — Federal magistrate upheld the military-lawyer prosecutions [4]

U.S. Magistrate Judge Shannon Elkins in Minneapolis upheld the practice in United States v. Johnson, allowing an active-duty Army lawyer to remain assigned to the prosecution of a Minnesota resident charged with assaulting a Customs and Border Protection agent. Elkins found that federal statutes created exceptions permitting the attorney general to appoint judge advocates as special assistant U.S. attorneys, while acknowledging the appointments conflicted with Defense Department regulations, and concluded she lacked authority to disqualify the officer. The defendant's attorney said he would appeal.