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WASHINGTON, D.C. — This summer, the Department of Defense’s Military-Civilian Transition Office (MCTO) is shining a spotlight on mission-critical national security internships with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—and they’re taking the message straight to social media.
Launched in June 2025, the “Summer Series: DoD-DHS SkillBridge Opportunity of the Week” is a bi-weekly campaign that will run on MCTO’s Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter) pages every other Wednesday through August. Each post will feature SkillBridge internship opportunities aligned with DHS’s southern border mission—helping service members find meaningful ways to continue serving the nation beyond the uniform.
“While opportunities with ICE and CBP have existed for five years, the department’s focused promotion of specifically ICE and CBP as SkillBridge opportunities is new,” said Michael Miller, Director of MCTO. “We will advertise and prioritize the opportunities to participate with the CBP and ICE.”
This effort follows a memorandum signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on May 28, 2025, which addressed the National Emergency at the Southern Border. “Recognizing the importance of leveraging talent and furthering our commitment to work with DHS, the department is expanding opportunities for transitioning service members to support southern border activities,” Hegseth wrote.
To support this directive, MCTO provided the Military Services with communications toolkits to amplify visibility and engagement. These include messaging templates, strategic rollout guidance, and sample posts highlighting the CBP and ICE positions currently available through DoD SkillBridge.
“We’re equipping the Military Services with what they need to act quickly and adhere to this DoD directive, highlighting CBP and ICE opportunities,” said Dr. Yashika Neaves, MCTO Chief of Strategic Plans & Initiatives. These actions are tied to broader efforts to ensure compliance with Presidential Executive Orders on public safety and border security.
Each Military Service outlined implementation steps at the June 2025 Transition Coordinating Council SkillBridge Meeting to “approve Service member request for SkillBridge participation with CBP and ICE to the maximum extent possible in the last 180 days of service” as outlined by Secretary Hegseth. This included discussions to actively reviewing waiver and approval processes to remove barriers to participation, leveraging joint communications, Service-wide senior leader and unit commander notices, and launching internal social media promotions of opportunities.
SkillBridge enables service members to gain hands-on civilian work experience during their final 180 days of active duty—all while still receiving their military pay. With more than 10,000 employment skills training opportunities, SkillBridge is one of DoD’s most powerful transition tools. According to Miller, employment rates after participation are between 90% and 95% for many programs.
“The department is proud to support our colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security through partnerships such as SkillBridge,” said Tim Dill, who is performing the duties of Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. “We encourage transitioning service members considering SkillBridge to continue to contribute to the security and territorial integrity of the nation through DHS' critical operations.”
MCTO’s Summer Series campaign will give transitioning service members—and their families—real-time access to DHS-focused internship information, directly from the platforms they already follow.
To explore SkillBridge opportunities with ICE, CBP, or thousands of other partner employers, visit skillbridge.osd.mil.
Read more about this initiative here: https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4215704/through-skillbridge-dod-provides-boost-to-southern-border-mission/
Follow MCTO’s social media pages for the Summer Series: DoD-DHS SkillBridge Opportunity of the Week at-
LinkedIn: DoD Military-Civilian Transition Office
X: @DoDMCTO
YouTube: @DoDMCTO
Facebook: DeptOfDefenseTAP
| Date Taken: | 06.27.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.27.2025 10:18 |
| Story ID: | 501678 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON , DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 23 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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