ICE is actively hiring for construction-related jobs

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When Donald Trump extended the federal government hiring freeze in April, he was sure to make a few carve outs: “This memorandum does not apply to military personnel of the Armed Forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety,” he wrote. And surely enough, US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is actively seeking candidates for at least 50 publicly-listed roles. But there appear to be others for which they’re privately recruiting.

A current federal worker recently received a message via LinkedIn from a recruiter at a private recruiting company called Aver asking if they were interested in a Budget Analyst Lead position with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In a subsequent email, the recruiter revealed the job was specifically for ICE. Aver’s website states that their “leadership team has several decades of experience providing support to the Federal government with expertise in Technology innovations and mission support to agencies in Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Immigration, Biometrics, and Healthcare.” With the new administration, it seems they’re continuing their mission, and specifically helping to staff construction projects.

"It's been bothering me ever since I turned it down,” the federal worker who received the job solicitation told me. “I don't like what it points to."

This person was skeptical about the initial outreach from the Aver recruiter. Though the federal worker, whose identity is being kept anonymous to protect their current job, isn’t looking for a new role, they said they were open to hearing more. They subsequently received an email from the recruiter outlining the Budget Analyst Lead job responsibilities and qualifications—which also indicated this was just one of a number of roles she was looking to fill.

“This is the position that can pay 135k, as the others for Portfolio PM and/or Space Management Specialists they have a salary closer to 115-120K,” the recruiter wrote. “I know you have a broad skill base, not only in budget- so if this isn't quite right just let me know and I would be happy to keep you in mind should another position become available with a higher salary on the contract.”

A successful candidate for the Budget Analyst Lead role should have, according to the description, “10+ years of experience and Bachelor degree from an accredited university in the field of either civil engineering, architecture, or business or a MBA” and “Five (5) years of experience managing programs/projects like the areas identified for this role, real property management in the federal government.”

The job description, which is not posted anywhere publicly, also calls for “Familiarity with budget and finance function related to real property management in the federal government” and “Expertise in business process improvement related to infrastructure and construction within the federal government.”

Oddly enough, the role is listed as “Remote/ Hybrid from Washington D.C.,” which seems to fly in the face of Trump’s Return to Office mandate. 

"Reading between the lines, it sounds like this is for construction of new detention facilities,” the federal worker said.

The fact that ICE is looking to build isn’t new. In late April the ACLU obtained documents that showed plans to expand ICE detention facilities in 10 states. 

In a press release at the time, the ACLU wrote that the documents included, “information regarding facility capacity, history of facility use, available local transport, proximity to local hospitals, immigration courts, and transport, as well as access to local consulates and pro bono legal services. Specifically, the documents reveal that Geo Group, Inc. (GEO) and CoreCivic submitted proposals for a variety of facilities not currently in use by ICE.” Among them were facilities in California, Michigan, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas.

But the fact that ICE is actively recruiting for roles in construction indicates that at least some of these projects are underway, or are about to be. 

I reached out to the recruiter and Aver President & CEO Chris Hartline to ask for more information about their contract with ICE, how many roles are available and what type of projects they’d be working on. I have not yet gotten a response. 

It should come as no surprise that Aver is doing this work: The company recently hired Patrick J. Lechleitner, former Acting Director and Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as a Senior Advisor for National Security. Lechleitner worked for ICE for 22 years—about as long as the agency has existed. 

In a post on LinkedIn, Aver CEO Chris Hartline said, "We are honored to welcome Patrick to our leadership team. His profound understanding of federal operations and strategic planning will be instrumental in advancing our mission to continue serving our clients with valuable services and solutions."

As recently as last year, Aver posted on LinkedIn in support of LGBTQ Pride Month and the celebration of Juneteenth. Less than a year later, they’re working hand in hand with Trump and his team to persecute the very people those observances honor.