Postal Service joins Trump administration immigration enforcement effort
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has reportedly joined efforts to stop illegal immigration, following a January directive from President Trump to use all federal law enforcement resources to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that USPS's Postal Inspection Service had 'quietly begun cooperating with federal immigration officials to locate people suspected of being in the country illegally.'
The article cited documents and anonymous sources and pointed to a video the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) posted online that showed at least one officer clad in a 'U.S. Postal Inspector Police' jacket at a recent immigration raid of a Colorado nightclub where more than 100 undocumented migrants were detained.
Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on Jan. 20 shortly after he was sworn back into office, including one that created a system of task forces under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Attorney General with 'representation from any other Federal agencies with law enforcement officers.'
The Postal Inspection Service, which is one of the country's oldest law enforcement agencies, has nearly 1,300 Postal Inspectors and 500 uniformed Postal Police Officers, according to the latest USPS figures.
The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration will use the Postal Service's law enforcement arm to obtain photographs of envelopes and packages through its long-existing mail surveillance program, as well as 'package- and mail-tracking information, credit card data and financial material and IP addresses' to track down people who are in the country illegally.
U.S. postal inspectors have similarly collaborated with law enforcement agencies in the past to locate fugitives, drug traffickers and other alleged criminals.
DHS didn't deny the report of its partnership with USPS in response to a query from The Hill.
'Under President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security will use every tool and resource available to secure our border and get criminal illegal aliens out of our country. The safety of American citizens comes first,' a DHS senior official said in a statement to The Hill. 'These actions are 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.'
USPS didn't immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.
According to the Washington Post report, USPS officials agreed to aid the federal immigration enforcement efforts because leaders fear a larger threat to the postal service from Trump, but one source told the outlet that 'Inspection Service is very, very nervous about this.'
Cracking down on illegal immigration has been a touchstone of Trump's second term, after he focused heavily on the issue during the 2024 presidential campaign. He signed two additional executive orders on Monday, including one targeting cities that flout federal immigration laws.
'I'm doing what I was elected to do, remove criminals from our Country,' he wrote in a post last week on Truth Social. 'If we don't get these criminals out of our Country, we are not going to have a Country any longer.'
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