General Attorney (National Security)

Full Job Description

The U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) is seeking multiple attorneys to join our legal team as Counsel in the National Security Law Division (NSLD).

If you are a passionate legal professional and ready to serve your country, join OPLA and become a vital part of the Department of Homeland Security!

One or more positions may be filled using this vacancy announcement. Unless otherwise noted, you must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements by 11:59 P.M.

Eastern Daylight Time on 04/20/2026. 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 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, Peace Corps/VISTA volunteers, and persons with disabilities 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. Major Duties:

OPLA is the largest legal program in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), employing over 3,000 attorneys nationwide.

OPLA serves as the exclusive representative of DHS in removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), litigating cases involving criminal aliens, terrorists, human rights abusers, and aliens posing a threat to our homeland security.

OPLA also provides specialized legal advice and a full range of legal services to all ICE directorates and program offices.

Specifically, divisions within OPLA's Enforcement, General Law, and Litigation (EG&L), through close client engagement, advance ICE's homeland security and public safety mission by providing expert legal advice and guidance to ICE personnel enforcing our nation's immigration, customs, and criminal law and policies.

EG&L divisions also advise and provide prudential counsel to an array of operational and policy clients within ICE on contracts, fiscal, and information law issues, as well as ethics matters.

NSLD attorneys provide nationwide oversight and support for OPLA's litigation of national security issues before EOIR.

NSLD coordinates with and provides support and guidance to the ICE attorneys litigating the removal proceedings of individuals of national security concern, 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 the Department of Justice (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 Office of the General Counsel Headquarters attorneys to coordinate the successful resolution of national security cases.

NSLD also provides administrative law and federal litigation 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.