Well, my father is an immigration attorney. His co-worker, another immigration lawyer, just received a government job in the field of immigration, obviously. I forgot the details, but he was hired in the middle of July 2009 I believe. Straight out of law school, save for a year of work experience. His law school and the university he earned his bachelor's from were not too hot either .

My father has 12 years of work experience, two Uni degrees, two law degrees, one in America from University of Alabama, School of Law - US News & World Report, the most accepted post-secondary education ranking system in US ranked University of Alabama 11th Among Public Law Schools, 32nd Overall, so I suppose he has a good chance of being hired for a US government job as well, once he becomes naturalised.

You decide whether this is competitive or not. Perhaps immigration law is simply a high-demand job in the gov't, and certainly, this is not one of the most popular fields of law.