The Department of Defense is putting more pressure on employees to volunteer to support the Department of Homeland Security repression of immigration.
In a February 19 memo sent to DOD civilians, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote that he expected “each supervisor to encourage their civilian employees to volunteer. Leaders must continue to promote this detailed program and educate their civilian employees about its importance. The memo, titled “War Department Guidance to Encourage Support for the Department of Homeland Security’s Southern Border and Internal Immigration Control Missions,” was sent to thousands of Department of Defense civilian employees. The memo was the first reported by GovExec and was also seen by WIRED.
The instructions follow a June 2025 memo in which Hegseth allowed civilian employees must be detailed to DHS. But a civilian Army employee who spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation said there was “definitely more pressure” now, “at least on the supervisory line.”
DOD and DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
“I received the obligatory announcement email with the first memo when it came out, and no one talked about it, to the point that I had completely forgotten about it,” says the civilian employee of the army. “I don’t know anyone who has taken this position.” In a statement As of August 2025, DOD says “nearly 500 DoD civilians have signed up to participate and contribute their skills to the border security and immigration enforcement mission at participating DHS agencies.”
“Although details and other short-term professional development opportunities are common for Army civilians, I have never heard of supervisors being required to approve such details,” they say.
The employee noted that, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut government jobs in the name of “efficiency,” Hegseth sought to reduce ministry staff. “I took over the duties of three missing colleagues in addition to the position for which I was hired,” they say. That means it would be difficult for the department to lose more staff or for workers to withdraw from existing projects. The employee described this type of request to volunteer for another federal agency as “very rare.” It’s not like the Department of Defense has any free time right now, either: Hegseth and DOD leaders are currently engaged in directing the United States’ role in the conflict with Iran.
DOD employees who wish to volunteer for assignment to DHS must apply via USAJobs. According to the job posting, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of EDSwill examine the applications. The volunteers will not only be sent to the southern border, but also to “multiple ICE and CBP facilities within the United States.”
While some volunteer roles appear to be mundane tasks like “data entry,” others appear to be central to immigration enforcement operations. These include helping ICE and CBP “develop concepts of operations and campaign plans to execute internal arrests and raids as well as patrols along the southwest border”; helping ICE and CBP “manage the physical flow of detained illegal aliens from apprehension to deportation, as well as manage associated data”; and “manage logistics planning to move law enforcement personnel, operational capabilities, and support equipment across the United States.”
This memo is only the latest in a series of changes in the federal government intended to enforce President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a new rule would prohibit families with immigrant members from receiving certain forms of support from the agency, and at the General Services Administration, staff were asked to help ICE acquire new physical spaces across the country.
