Thanks to the USPS’s cooperation, immigration officials now have access to photographs of the outside of envelopes and packages, as well as the postal service’s surveillance systems, including mail tracking, IP addresses, online account information, credit card data, and other financial information. 

While DHS has partnered with other agencies in areas such as taxes, housing, and public health, enlisting the USPS means that mail delivery is now part of immigration enforcement. The postal service has 1,700 law enforcement officers, whose main tasks in the past were to keep the mail system safe, investigate threats and attacks on postal facilities and workers, and keep illegal items out of the mail. 

The Postal Inspection Service’s leaders signed on to immigration efforts in part because of fears that the White House could tighten its control of the postal service. President Trump issued an executive order that includes all federal law enforcement agencies in the administration’s deportation efforts.