Haven Defense: Haven soldiers getting the EXP pie

So I sent a single Infiltrator and an Aspida to defend NJ haven with the objective of farming EXP. Knowing the type of mission, I was expecting Infiltrator to gain ~400 EXP after the mission.

While in the mission, I managed to “control 2 NJ soldiers”… great, now I got extra guns and spotters.

After completing the mission, the mission debriefing reads: mission awarded 383 EXP (structure got some damage), but infiltrator only got 180 exp! 203 exp went to NJ soldiers?

This also happened in some missions where I need to extract a civilian; after the mission, he gained exp too. YET rescued soldiers do not gain EXP.

Was this by design that in-mission characters getting the exp?