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The U.S. Postal Service has reportedly begun cooperating with Trump administration efforts to track down undocumented immigrants for deportation.
According to a Wednesday report from The Washington Post, U.S. Postal Inspection Service — the law enforcement arm of USPS — is cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security, which is using the mail carrier’s vast access to address, I.P., shipping, and other data to help track down undocumented migrants. Sources who spoke to the Post say the service agreed to cooperate amid public rhetoric from the president and his administration indicating they are considering privatizing the USPS.
While the Inspection Service does investigate crimes involving the mail service — such as narcotics trafficking, mail fraud, and child abuse materials — immigration enforcement is a step far outside of its mandate.
A spokesperson for the DHS told the Post that “a key part of ensuring law enforcement has the resources they need to fulfill President Trump’s promise to the American people to remove violent criminals from our streets, dismantle drug and human trafficking operations and make America safe again.”
One source told the post that the Inspection Service is “very, very nervous about this.”
“They seem to be trying to placate Trump by getting involved with things they think he’d like. But it’s complete overreach. This is the Postal Service. Why are they involved in deporting people?” the source added.
In February, reports emerged that the Trump administration was planning an imminent takeover and gutting of USPS. The White House denied any such reports, but the president’s long-standing feud with the mail-delivery service has left little room for reassurance. During his campaign, Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly discussed fully privatizing the nation’s primary low-cost mail carrier.
“Efforts to privatize the Postal Service, in whole or in part, or to strip it of its independence or public service mission, would be of no benefit to the American people. Instead, it would drive up postage rates and lead to reduced service, especially to rural America,” American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein wrote in February.
The Trump administration’s efforts to exploit data gathered by an independent service like USPS is a sign of the extreme lengths the president and his allies are willing to go to in order to achieve their mass deportation goals. Earlier this week, the administration deported multiple children who were U.S. citizens — at least two of whom were receiving treatment for cancer — alongside their mothers. Just in the last month, the administration has also proposed raising costs for basic immigration processes, implementing steep penalties for violating immigration laws or missing hearings, while demanding that other agencies like the Internal Revenue Service use internal tools to aid in the identification of undocumented migrants.
On top of it all, the administration continues to violate the civil and human rights of migrants at nearly every turn, flouting court orders in the process. It’s undeniable at this juncture that the White House is aiming to turn the federal government into one massive deportation machine, with every agency under their control working toward the cause.
