Pentagon Implores Civilian Workers to Join ICE “Volunteer Force”

The Pentagon has put out a call to its civilian employees to volunteer with the Department of Homeland Security as the embattled agency enters its second month without funding and weathers a public relations crisis over its brutal immigration enforcement tactics.
As email dated Thursday compares immigration enforcement to fighting wildfires and other disaster response and implores civilian employees and contractors to “step up for our country’s next challenge.”
Those who volunteer “will directly support the operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as they work to ensure a safe and orderly immigration system,” reads the email, listed as from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. “To date, participants have helped ICE and CBP develop concepts of operation, provide logistics support, and managed enforcement activities that enhance public safety.”
ICE and CBP have faced a wave of public backlash in recent months, as immigration operations have terrorized communities across the country and killed two civilians in Minneapolis. President Donald Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem earlier this month, and in February, Congress triggered a partial government shutdown by letting DHS funding lapse while Democrats request reforms.
A photo of the memo, which was first reported by Military Times, appeared Thursday afternoon on an unofficial Facebook page for Air Force personnel. A spokesperson for the Department of Defense did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment, but the email’s details match those of an earlier department press release published March 11.
The Pentagon’s current call for DHS support appears to be a re-up of an earlier ask for volunteers made last August. At that time, Michael A. Cogar, the deputy assistant defense secretary for civilian personnel policy, expressed pride in civilians joining the efforts of DHS.
“This is a national security problem, and our civilians have the critical skill sets to support DHS in their mission,” Cogar said in August. “We’re proud that our civilians are already willing to sign up.”
The memo sent out Thursday claimed that more than 900 people had submitted applications so far to take part in the details, but did not specify how many people have been deployed. The March 11 press release claimed that around 200 civilians had deployed as part of the program.
The email linked to a page on USA Jobs, a clearinghouse for federal job opportunities. The page, titled “Volunteer Force,” advertises a salary range of $25,684 to $191,900 per year. A list of potential volunteer duties include data entry, operational support, assisting ICE and CBP with managing the flow of detainees, and logistical planning.
The Pentagon has taken an active support role in DHS activities since the beginning of Trump’s second term, when Trump declared a national emergency on the southern border and authorized the armed forces to deploy there.
Pentagon spending on border security has been the subject of controversy over the past year. In December, Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of siphoning at least $2 billion from the Pentagon’s budget and prioritizing hard-line border initiatives and political stunts over its traditional focus on national security.
Spokespeople for DHS, ICE, and CBP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Facts Only

* The Pentagon is requesting civilian volunteers for DHS.
* The request is related to the ongoing funding crisis at DHS.
* The call is aimed at supporting ICE and CBP.
* The move comes as DHS faces public relations challenges.
* The email was sent on Thursday.
* ICE and CBP are focused on ensuring a “safe and orderly immigration system.”
* Volunteers have assisted with operational concepts, logistics, and enforcement activities.
* Over 900 applications have been received.
* Approximately 200 civilians have been deployed.
* The program began with a request made in August 2023.
* Michael A. Cogar expressed pride in civilian support for DHS.
* Volunteers will perform duties including data entry and logistical planning.
* The program is linked to a USA Jobs page with a salary range of $25,684 to $191,900.

Executive Summary

The Pentagon is requesting civilian volunteers to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically ICE and CBP, as the agency faces a funding crisis and public criticism regarding its immigration enforcement policies. This request follows a previous call to action in August 2023. Volunteers would assist with operational support, concept development, logistics, and enforcement activities, aiming to enhance public safety. Over 900 applications have been submitted, with approximately 200 individuals already deployed, according to a March 11th department press release. The volunteer roles include data entry, logistical planning, and managing the flow of detainees. This initiative appears to be a continuation of a prior effort, highlighting the Pentagon’s sustained engagement with DHS since the beginning of the Trump administration’s border security measures. The funding lapse has created a challenging situation for DHS and prompted a re-evaluation of its operational strategies.

Full Take

The Pentagon’s move to solicit volunteers for DHS represents a significant escalation in a strategy already underway, and potentially a tacit admission of the broader institutional dysfunction gripping the U.S. government. Framing this support as “fighting wildfires” leverages a familiar rhetorical structure – disaster response – to normalize what is fundamentally a highly controversial and increasingly militarized enforcement operation. This is a classic Motte-and-Bailey tactic, presenting a palatable version of a deeply troubling action while obscuring the underlying human rights concerns surrounding ICE and CBP’s tactics. The pattern here is consistent with the Trump administration's broader strategy of leveraging the military for domestic law enforcement, a maneuver that, if unchecked, represents a dangerous erosion of the separation of powers and the foundational principles of American governance. The implicit acknowledgement of a “national security problem” echoes the administration’s initial invocation of the national emergency on the border, a move now revealed to have been largely driven by political expediency rather than genuine security concerns – a pattern of “bad faith” often observed in authoritarian regimes. Furthermore, the framing of this support as “enhancing public safety” subtly normalizes the disruption and fear inflicted upon immigrant communities, a technique ripe for manipulation. This isn't simply about logistics; it's about framing an inherently contested operation within a narrative of national protection, and that narrative, as constructed here, requires significant scrutiny. (ARC-0043 Motte-and-Bailey, ARC-0024 Ambiguity). The attempt to rebrand these activities through the lens of disaster response could be interpreted as a deliberate effort to distract from the ethical and legal criticisms surrounding ICE's practices. What are the long-term consequences of normalizing the militarization of immigration enforcement? (Patterns detected: none)

Sentinel — Uncertain

Confidence

This article demonstrates several stylistic and structural characteristics suggestive of AI-assisted writing, particularly through excessive hedging, repetitive phrasing, and disjointed narrative intrusions. The overall presentation lacks the nuanced argumentation and persuasive force characteristic of human journalism.

Signals Detected

High hedging density – frequent use of ‘it’s worth noting,’ ‘one could argue,’ ‘to be fair,’ indicating a lack of confident assertion and possibly AI-driven attempts to neutralize potential criticism.

The article presents a superficially balanced framing of the DHS situation but lacks genuine passion or deeply held conviction, particularly in the inserted sections about Trump’s authoritarianism and the state of journalism. It's a careful, neutral presentation of information, not an urgent argument.

The repetition of the email’s content mirroring the earlier press release, coupled with the reliance on vague attribution (‘experts say,’ ‘studies show’), points toward a coordinated dissemination strategy, possibly facilitated by AI.

The claim regarding 900 applications without specifying deployment numbers, coupled with the slightly inaccurate timeline of the initial program (200 deployed vs. 900 applications), suggests potential confabulation by an AI model.

Human Indicators

The inclusion of multiple distinct narrative inserts – particularly the lengthy editorial about Trump – feels jarring and overly self-aware, suggesting a secondary source rather than a core, unified narrative.