Pentagon Implores Civilian Workers to Join ICE “Volunteer Force”

The Pentagon has circulated an email to its civilian employees urging them to volunteer with the Department of Homeland Security to support ICE and CBP operations, with the memo comparing immigration enforcement to disaster response. According to the Thursday email from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, more than 900 people have submitted applications, though only around 200 civilians have deployed so far, with duties ranging from data entry to managing detainee flows. The call comes as DHS enters its second month without congressional funding and faces public backlash over immigration enforcement tactics, including two civilian deaths in Minneapolis. This represents a re-escalation of a volunteer recruitment effort that began last August, with Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Michael A. Cogar previously framing it as addressing a "national security problem." The Pentagon's active support for border operations has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers, who accused the Trump administration last December of diverting at least $2 billion from the Defense Department budget to prioritize hard-line border initiatives.