Pentagon Invites Civilian Employees to Assist in Immigration Efforts

The Pentagon is reaching out to its civilian workforce, urging them to participate in “volunteer forces” that will assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with its immigration initiatives. This information came to light through a notification sent to roughly 950,000 civilian employees.

According to the Department of Defense (DOD), an email sent out on Wednesday detailed that employees could apply for temporary assignments with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs Border Protection (CBP). The Secretary of Defense mentioned that a recent memorandum of agreement between DHS and DOD officially allows for the involvement of DOD civilians in this capacity.

The postings on Usajobs indicate that those who join may need to be prepared for extensive overtime, and conditions at certain deployment locations could be quite demanding. Both ICE and CBP stated that they would cover salaries, overtime, insurance, and travel expenses.

Deployment could potentially be at various facilities along the U.S. border or at ICE and CBP locations domestically. This initiative coincides with DHS’s campaign to hire around 10,000 full-time ICE officers, as the agency recently highlighted having received about 100,000 applications for these positions.

In a statement earlier this month, acting ICE director Todd Lyons emphasized that participating in these efforts is a call to serve the community, especially in light of challenges posed by current immigration policies. He mentioned that the recent funding will facilitate the recruitment of individuals eager to support American communities.

Interestingly, DHS data indicates a staggering 830% increase in attacks on agents amid ongoing protests and political unrest. Secretary Noem has also noted that this figure has since risen to 1,000%.