More than 35,000 applicants flooded the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency to become Homeland Defenders in the last month—the most for any position in agency history, officials announced Thursday.
The department, under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, launched the program in a social media campaign on Sept. 30.
New hires will act as immigration officers to process applications.
Those hired in the program can earn up to $50,000 as a signing bonus and may be eligible to work remotely. No degrees are required for the positions, which will act as immigration services officers, according to Homeland Security.
New hires may also be available for student loan repayment and flexible duty locations.
“The Homeland Defender Campaign has already been a tremendous success and has resonated with the American People,” said immigration services director Joseph Edlow. “USCIS is not wasting time; we are committed to implementing President [Donald] Trump’s priorities.”
The candidates are applying to guard American values and defend the homeland, he said.
The department has made hundreds of job offers and is expected to begin hiring soon, according to a Thursday press release.
“I look forward to onboarding many more Homeland defenders in the coming weeks,” Edlow said.
The applicants include former law enforcement personnel and veterans who have experience serving and protecting their communities, the department stated.
Entry-level positions that don’t require a college degree may be expedited, according to USCIS.
“USCIS has cut red tape and can make on-the-spot job offers at upcoming job fairs,” the department stated.
The agency stated that Homeland Defenders will “serve on the front lines and hold the line against terrorists, criminal aliens, and bad actors intent on infiltrating our nation.”
The job includes interviewing illegal immigrants, reviewing applications, and identifying criminal or ineligible immigrants.
Millions of immigration applications are waiting to be processed after the United States received an unprecedented influx of illegal immigration during the Biden administration. Immigration courts are also overwhelmed with a backlog of about 3.6 million cases at the end of fiscal year 2024.
The Trump administration has shifted nearly every aspect of immigration policy since January, according to the nonprofit think tank the Brookings Institution. Border crossings have fallen this year as a result, with authorities allowing almost no migrants to cross the border for humanitarian reasons, the institution reported.
The Trump administration also ended the use of an app created by the Biden administration to facilitate migration into the country. Additionally, about 30,000 people saw their existing immigration appointments canceled, according to the report.
