Despite the influx of complaints about the latest iPhone, Apple’s sure got one major fan still standing: the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The division, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, filed a report recently that stated it will be obtaining iOS devices from a multitude of service providers and distributing them to the office’s more-than 17,000 users. Not only does this move help ward off the toxicity of the latest negativity surrounding the new system by touting it as a platform safe enough for Homeland Security, but it lands Apple a huge government client.

Specifically, the Federal Business Opportunities web site described utilization of the iPhone as follows:

“The iOS services will be used by a variety of agency personnel, including, but not limited to, Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement and Removal Operations, and Office of the Principal Legal Advisor employees. The iPhone services will allow these individuals to leverage reliable, mobile technology on a secure and manageable platform in furtherance of the agency’s mission.”

Originally, the ICE’s mobile-platform-of-choice was the BlackBerry, courtesy of RIM. So, why the swap?

The answer has to do with iOS providing an abundance of market share, as well as rigid OS alteration-detection standards, which enables ICE to accurately identify any latent security breaches. Moreover, the agency can embed custom apps for application signatures, which is a priority for them.

Furthermore, the Apple door has been left ajar due to this latest move by the ICE – meaning, it may not be too long that the office integrates the iPad into its litany of tech devices in order to better is enforcement. It’s not like Apple is a newbie when it comes to taking on government agencies as clientele. Earlier this year, the U.S. General Services Administration adopted iPhones and Android gadgets, too, for use by its workers; and not long ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration implemented both the iPhone, and iPad.

What does the government find so appealing about apple’s products?

For one, there is a security feature in iOS 6 called the Kernel Address Space Layout Randomization, created by Apple to provide stronger protection against malware protection. In a security blog at Intego Mac, it was explained:

“This means it will take a whole lot more skill and effort to come up with a jailbreak that works for iOS 6 (whether you consider that a good or a bad thing), and it also means it’ll be harder for malware authors to sneak onto non-jailbroken machines.”