In a memo sent to civilians at DOD on February 19, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote that he expected “each supervisor To encourage its civilian employees Volunteer. Leadership must continue to promote this comprehensive program and educate their civilian employees about its importance. The memo, titled “Warfare Guidance to Encourage Support to the Department of Homeland Security Southern Border and Interior Immigration Enforcement Mission,” was sent to thousands of civilian DOD employees. The memo was first reported by GovExec and also seen by WIRED.
The directives follow a June 2025 memo in which Hegseth authorized civilian staff to provide detailed information about DHS. But a civilian Army employee who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution says there is “definitely more pressure” now, “at least on the supervisory chain.”
DOD and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.
“I received the mandatory announcement email with the first memo when it came out, and no one talked about it at all, so much so that I completely forgot about it,” says one Army civilian employee. “I don’t know anyone who has taken the job.” In an August 2025 statement, the DOD claims that “approximately 500 DOD civilians have signed up to bring their skill sets to the border security and immigration enforcement mission at participating DHS agencies.”
He says, “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.”
The staffer noted that, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut government jobs in the name of “efficiency”, Hegseth has sought to cut the department’s workforce. “I took on the responsibilities of three departing colleagues on top of the job I was hired for,” he says. This means it will now be difficult for the department to lose employees or move workers away from existing projects. The employee described such a request to volunteer for another federal agency as “not very common.” It’s not like the Defense Department has any free time right now: Hegseth and DOD leadership are currently busy directing America’s role in the conflict with Iran.
DoD employees who wish to volunteer for DHS must apply through USAJobs. According to the job posting, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is part of DHS, will review applications. Volunteers will be sent not only to the southern border, but also to “numerous ICE and CBP facilities in the interior of the United States.”
While some volunteer roles appear to be mundane tasks like “data entry,” others appear to be busy with immigration enforcement tasks. These include assisting ICE and CBP in “developing concepts of operations and campaign plans to carry out interior arrests and raids, as well as southwest border patrol”; To assist ICE and CBP in “managing the physical flow of detained illegal aliens from arrest to deportation, as well as managing related data”; and “managing logistics planning to move law enforcement personnel, operational capabilities, and support equipment across the United States.”
The memo is the latest in a series of changes across the federal government to implement President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a new rule will block families with immigrant members from receiving certain types of support from the agency, and at the General Services Administration, staff have been asked to assist ICE in procuring new physical locations across the country.
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