Pete Hegseth pays defense employees to volunteer with DHS

to divide Defense puts more pressure on employees to volunteer support Department of Homeland Security Immigration campaign.

In a memorandum dated February 19 sent to civilians through the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth He wrote that he expected “Every admin To encourage its civil servants to do so volunteer. Command must continue to promote this detailed program and educate its civilian staff about its importance. The memorandum, titled “War Department Guidance to Encourage Support for Department of Homeland Security, Southern Border Enforcement, and Internal Immigration Missions,” was sent to thousands of DoD civilian employees. The note was first Reported by GovExec It was also viewed by WIRED.

The instructions follow the June 2025 memo in which Hegseth was mentioned permission Civilian employees will be detailed to DHS. But an Army civilian employee who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation says there is “definitely more pressure” now, “at least up the supervisory chain.”

The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

“I received the mandatory email announcement with the first memo when it came out, and no one ever talked about it, to the point where I completely forgot about it,” says the Army civilian employee. “I don’t know anyone who took the job.” In a statement As of August 2025, the Department of Defense claims that “nearly 500 DoD civilians have registered to participate and bring their skills to the border security and immigration enforcement mission at participating DHS agencies.”

“Although detailing and other short-term professional development opportunities are common for Army civilians, I have never heard of supervisors being asked to approve such detailing,” 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 Cutting the department’s workforce. “I have taken on the duties of three of my departing colleagues as well as the position for which I was hired as a result,” they say. This means that it will be difficult for the department to lose more employees or for workers to move away from existing projects. The employee described this type of volunteer request at another federal agency as “very uncommon.” It’s not as if the MoD has any free time at the moment either: Hegseth’s leadership and the MoD are currently engaged in – Directing the American role in the conflict with Iran.

DoD employees who want to volunteer to be detailed to the Department of Homeland Security need to do so Apply through USAJobs. According to the job posting, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is part of the Ministry of Homeland SecurityRequests will be reviewed. Volunteers will be sent not only to the southern border, but to “numerous ICE and police facilities throughout the interior of the United States.”

While some volunteer roles seem like mundane tasks like “data entry,” others appear to be in the midst of immigration enforcement operations. This includes assisting ICE and CBP in “developing concepts of operations and campaign plans to conduct domestic arrests and raids as well as patrols along the southwest border”; assisting ICE and CBP in “managing the physical flow of detained illegal aliens from arrest to deportation, as well as managing associated data”; and “Manage logistics planning for moving law enforcement personnel, operational capabilities, and support equipment across the United States.”

The memo is the latest in a series of Changes throughout the federal government It aims to implement President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a new rule bars families with immigrant members from receiving certain forms of support from the agency, and at the General Services Administration, employees have been asked to help ICE with Purchasing new physical spaces All over the country.