Closing Date: 22nd September, 2025

Description:

Summary:
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) is seeking attorneys to join our legal team as Associate Legal Advisors (ALAs) in the following Headquarters Enforcement and Litigation divisions in Washington, D.C.: Immigration Law and Practice Division (ILPD) and National Security Law Division (NSLD). Additional information about these exciting teams is available HERE. (https://www.ice.gov/about-ice/opla/enforcement-litigation)

These positions may offer up to $50,000 in signing and retention bonuses.

Duties:
OPLA is the largest legal program in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), employing nearly 2,000 attorneys nationwide. OPLA provides a full range of legal services to all ICE programs and offices and serves as the exclusive representative of DHS in removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Review, litigating cases involving criminal aliens, terrorists, human rights violators, and other priority aliens.

OPLA's Headquarters Enforcement and Litigation divisions advance ICE's homeland security and public safety mission by enforcing our nation's immigration, customs, and criminal laws and policies, defending the operational authorities and decisions of ICE officers and agents in the federal courts, and guiding and supporting the advocacy of ICE attorneys before the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), with special emphasis on cases involving criminal aliens, human rights violators, and aliens who threaten our national security. Specifically, within OPLA Headquarters Enforcement and Litigation:
ILPD attorneys review DHS appeals filed with the BIA, represent DHS in briefing before the Attorney General and in oral arguments and supplemental briefing before the BIA, and coordinate closely with DOJ and the DHS Office of the General Counsel Headquarters (OGC HQ) to pursue further review of adverse federal court immigration decisions. ILPD provides guidance to OPLA Field Locations, agency leadership, Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement and Removal Operations, DHS OGC HQ, and various DOJ components on a wide range of substantive immigration law issues, including, but not limited to, criminal grounds of removability, bond proceedings, and extradition. ILPD also provides specialized legal advice on matters involving refugees, asylum, withholding of removal, protection under the Convention Against Torture, and Temporary Protected Status, and advances OPLA's efforts to combat protection law-related fraud.

NSLD attorneys provide nationwide oversight and support for OPLA's litigation of national security issues before DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review. NSLD coordinates with and provides guidance to the OPLA Field Locations litigating the removal proceedings of individuals with national security concerns, including terrorists, foreign intelligence agents, and export violators. NSLD collaborates with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Intelligence Community, and the Department of State, as well as the National Security, Civil, and Criminal Divisions of DOJ on immigration issues involving national security matters. In addition, NSLD provides support in criminal prosecutions and federal litigation involving immigration-related national security issues, including developing case strategies, reviewing pleadings, substantive motions, and briefing papers, and providing litigation recommendations. NSLD frequently engages with ICE leadership, DOJ, and DHS OGC HQ attorneys to coordinate the successful resolution of national security cases. NSLD also provides administrative law support to the HSI Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), which was established by Congress in response to the 9/11 attacks. SEVP provides integrity to the U.S. immigration system by collecting, maintaining, and analyzing information so legitimate nonimmigrant students enter the United States, and ensures that the academic institutions accepting nonimmigrant students are certified and complying with federal regulations.

Selected attorneys will immediately be given significant responsibilities and will be expected to craft persuasive, legally supportable positions to address the needs of agency operational components. Selected attorneys will be expected to routinely provide timely legal opinions to ICE officers and agents, division management, and leadership within OPLA, ICE, and the DHS Office of the General Counsel Headquarters. Selected attorneys will also provide litigation support to DOJ.

Requirements:
Conditions of Employment:

You must successfully pass a background investigation and drug screen for federal employment.
If you are a male born after 12/31/59, you must certify registration with the Selective Service.
You must have relevant experience (see How You Will Be Evaluated and Qualifications tabs).
You must meet all requirements by the closing date of the announcement.
You may be required to serve a two-year trial period, if the requirement has not been met.
You must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a U.S. state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Qualifications:
Unless otherwise noted, you must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements by 11:59 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time on 09/22/2025. Please note that qualification claims will be subject to verification.

Applicants should be able to efficiently produce quality legal analyses of complex and novel issues, exercise sound legal judgment, prioritize competing assignments, and work effectively independently, as part of a team, and across work units. Applicants should be detail-oriented and have a strong interest in supporting and providing stellar client services to program offices, including law enforcement officers, policymakers, attorneys, and agency senior leadership, and must be able to tailor communications to a particular audience. Applicants should be able to take the initiative and work in a reliable, decisive, and professional manner.

Applicants should possess the following characteristics and competencies: integrity, sound professional judgment, organizational skills, decisiveness, initiative, stellar client services, the ability to function independently and cooperatively, and superior written and oral advocacy skills.

Bar Membership: You must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

The Department of Homeland Security encourages persons with disabilities to apply, to include persons with intellectual, severe physical or psychiatric disabilities, as defined by 5 C.F.R. 213.3102(u), and/or Disabled Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more as defined by 5 C.F.R. 315.707. Veterans (https://www.fedshirevets.gov/job-seekers/special-hiring-authorities/#content), Peace Corps (https://www.peacecorps.gov/returned-volunteers/careers/noncompetitive-eligibility/)/VISTA volunteers (https://www.vistacampus.gov/after-vista/career), and persons with disabilities (http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment/) possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs.

Education:
Applicants must be graduates of an accredited law school with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) or LLM degree.