Department of Homeland Security eyes military and veterans to join immigrant crackdown

Scrolling through the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) social media account on X is a journey — one post might be a 19th century-style manifest destiny postcard while the next features Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" playing over video of the American wilderness.

Text added onto the video saying, "America remember what we're fighting for."

Between these posts of what some experts describe as white nationalist imagery are promotional videos for applying for Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) jobs.

Immigration agents ride in the dead of night in troop carriers. They wear fatigues, battle helmets and carry assault-style rifles.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is with the agents.

A dubstep rendition of Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" plays and the tension ratchets skyward. Quick cuts, some aerial drone footage, then — the beat drops, an explosion breaches the door of a home and agents march middle-aged men away in handcuffs.

The message is clear — immigration enforcement is an action-packed activity.

The video's style might be familiar to anyone who's spent time watching videos of U.S. military raids from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But this time, it's not Baghdad — it's Chicago.

Noem is forthright about DHS bringing the wars home.

"When I took the oath as Secretary of Homeland Security, I pledged that I would work to protect the American people from all enemies foreign and domestic," Noem said in April. "And let me be clear — we have enemies living among us."

Donald Trump campaigned on mass deportation. To help his administration reach its goal of deporting 1 million people a year, this summer Congress passed the "Big Beautiful Bill." Once signed by Trump, it gave DHS $165 billion over the next four years.

DHS is using the funds to hire tens of thousands of new immigration enforcement staff. For ICE positions, it's offering signing bonuses of up to $50,000. It lifted age requirements on jobs and has promoted the fact that college degrees aren't needed.

Almost 20,000 people leave the military each month, and DHS is looking to them to fill many of these positions.

Veterans already receive preference for many federal jobs. But DHS' recruitment of veterans and transitioning military goes beyond just points on the candidate's ranking. It's enlisted the help of the Pentagon.

In a May memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the military branches to "prioritize and broadly advertise ... critical DHS career opportunities to transitioning Service members."

In the memo, he emphasized the SkillBridge program as one avenue for recruitment.

SkillBridge is an internship program that allows service members to work at civilian employers full-time during their last months on active duty. They retain their military pay and benefits while gaining important civilian work experience.

Members must apply for these internships at least 11 months before their separation dates. In his memo, Hegseth ordered the service branches to approve all such requests "to the maximum extent possible."

Transitioning from the military back to civilian life can be difficult for service members and their families.

"You're trying to get a job or are you trying to get a career?" said veteran staffing consultant Martin Rivera. "We can do both."

Rivera works for Work for Warriors, a career assistance program for military families. Work for Warriors hosts job fairs throughout the state and helps service members and their spouses with resume writing and other parts of the job search.

Local, state and federal government agencies were on-hand at a recent Work for Warriors job fair at the California National Guard Armory in San Diego.

Rivera said there are a lot of law enforcement agencies recruiting veterans right now.

"Basically right now ... the push that we're seeing is law enforcement," Rivera said. "There's been a new awakening (in) the field of public safety — aside from politics or whatever — we see new growth, which is why you see an incredible number of law enforcement agencies here today."

Police and county sheriffs departments from all over Southern California were there, as was the Federal Bureau of Prisons. One booth was especially busy — Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Leyrem Bray is a San Diego-based CBP officer. She said she hasn't noticed anything new from the recruiting side — because of the ports in San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, CBP in San Diego hires constantly.

"I think customs is always hiring, especially here in the San Diego area," she said, "We always need people."

Army National Guard veteran Carlton Maye said he came to the job fair looking for resources. He's been out of the military for five years and said it's been a challenging transition.

"It's actually been rough — I wasn't properly transitioned on life after the military," he said. "So, I've just been kind of scuffling here and there."

Maye worked in intelligence in the Army. He said now he's looking for a more corporate work environment versus putting on another uniform.

"Law enforcement — not necessarily my thing," he said. "But pretty close."

Extremism experts are sounding the alarm on DHS' build-up, especially concerning ICE.

Right now, ICE agents routinely participate in raids in immigrant communities wearing masks — almost like a secret police force, said Barbara Walter, a UC San Diego professor.

Walter is the author of the book "How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them," and is an expert on extremism.

She said one challenge authoritarians have in democratic societies is they don't have a "secret" police force answerable only to them. That, she said, might be changing in the U.S.

"Trump has to create his own secret police," she said. "And ICE is going to be his secret police. It's going to be America's version of the Brownshirts — it's absolutely clear in my mind that's what's happening here. They're not accountable to anybody but Trump right now and they're anonymous."

The Brownshirts aided Adolf Hitler during his rise to power in Nazi Germany by providing security at Nazi rallies and serving as a paramilitary force.

DHS' recruitment campaign for ICE has been criticized as containing white nationalist and fascist dog-whistles.

Images the agency shares hearken back to an idealized American past — white settlers spreading across the prairie or the white founders at the Constitutional Convention are just some of the posts the agency has shared on X.

The aesthetic of the content is unmistakably white nationalist, one expert previously told KPBS.

Walter said the agency appears to be looking to recruit a specific type of person — someone loyal to Trump.

"Individuals who are likely to be deeply racist and sexist and brutal," she said. "Because he's going to be using them for brutal means."

KPBS asked the Pentagon how many service members have applied for SkillBridge internships with DHS. A spokesperson said the information would only be available from each individual branch.

So, KPBS asked each military branch how many of their members applied for the internships. Only the Army provided numbers.

According to a spokesperson, since Hegseth's memo was published on May 28, three U.S. Army soldiers have applied for SkillBridge internships at DHS.