Regional Counsel, Metro

Regional Counsel For The Metro Region OPLA protects the homeland by diligently litigating cases while adhering to the highest standards of professional conduct, providing timely and accurate legal advice, and optimizing resources to advance the missions of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. OPLA is part of the Office of the General Counsel within DHS. The General Counsel, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, serves as DHS's chief legal officer and principal legal advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. As such, the General Counsel is responsible for all of DHS's legal determinations and for overseeing all of its attorneys. OPLA serves as the principal legal representative for DHS/ICE in various forums, including representing DHS before the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) under 6 U.S.C. § 252(c). OPLA provides legal advice to ICE officers and agents in Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and offers litigation support to U.S. Attorney's Offices and the DOJ Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL) on federal court matters related to ICE operations. OPLA handles complex, high-profile immigration and customs enforcement issues that require creative legal solutions to balance national security and individual liberties. Additionally, OPLA represents DHS in Merit Systems Protection Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Federal Labor Relations Authority hearings; provides ethics counsel; and manages commercial and administrative law matters. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., OPLA has nine regions nationwide, each led by a regional counsel, and maintains 143 office locations. The Regional Counsel for the Metro Region oversees OPLA legal operations in the New York City metropolitan area and New Jersey (Newark and Elizabeth). The incumbent's duty station must be located at an OPLA office within the Metro Region. Specific duties and responsibilities include: Serving as a third-line supervisor for a staff of more than 400 attorneys and support personnel, and as one of nine senior advisors to the Associate Principal Legal Advisor for Legal Operations and the Deputy Principal Legal Advisor for Legal Operations. Providing leadership, overall management, and authoritative counsel to staff and clients on legal matters within the designated region, including responsibility for the strategic planning, development, implementation, and administration of agency legal programs and initiatives within the region. These legal programs include, but are not limited to, immigration trial and appellate practice; constitutional and criminal law and procedure; citizenship and nationality law, including naturalization and denaturalization matters; identity and benefit fraud; smuggling; cybercrimes; labor exploitation; child exploitation; human rights violations; national security; customs law; detention issues, including those related to juvenile noncitizens; victim-witness issues; the Violence Against Women Act; immigrant and nonimmigrant visas; and federal sector employment law. Providing leadership regarding litigation and case-management strategies, while ensuring that the highest level of legal competency is applied to the development of the agency's case theory, preparation of witnesses for trial, direct and cross-examination of witnesses, presentation of oral arguments advancing the agency's objectives, negotiation with opposing counsel, and identification of cases warranting appeal or the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Supervising legal research and the preparation of persuasive memoranda of law advocating agency positions for submission to the EOIR, federal courts, and other tribunals, as well as the preparation of advisory memoranda for United States Attorney's Offices, the DOJ OIL, and ICE officers and agents. Serving as the primary legal advisor to the ICE HSI Special Agent in Charge and ERO Field Office Director in the respective region. This work requires the ability to conceptualize, develop, and recommend legal options to ICE leadership, and to explain and defend decisions based on those options to professional groups, other federal agencies, and high-ranking officials in the private sector.