Postal workers rallied Tuesday outside the Lake Street post office in south Minneapolis, calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop using postal property as a staging ground for enforcement operations.
Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 9 said ICE agents used the parking lots of two local post offices last week while carrying out arrests in nearby neighborhoods, raising safety concerns for workers and the public.
“A couple weeks ago, ICE used the Lake Street post office parking lot here a couple times as a staging ground for their operations,” said Chris Pennock, executive vice president of NALC Branch 9. “That same week, they used the Powderhorn post office parking lot to arrest somebody right in the middle of where the carriers are returning.”
Pennock said the presence of ICE agents created unsafe conditions for letter carriers as they finished their routes.
“At the end of the day, the manager told them to get out of the way, and they threatened to put him in handcuffs,” he said. “It’s not safe for them to be using federal property — post offices — as a staging ground.”
The Department of Homeland Security has defended recent immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota as part of what it calls “Operation Metro Surge.” In a statement, DHS said ICE has arrested more than 400 people statewide during the operation, which it said includes individuals with convictions for sex offenses and violent crimes.
DHS said the arrests were intended to improve public safety, a characterization that state and local officials have disputed.
The rally was held at the Lake Street post office and was followed by a roughly 1.5-mile march to the Powderhorn post office. Postal workers said the demonstration was meant to show solidarity with immigrant coworkers and residents in the neighborhoods they serve, and to make clear that they do not want to be associated with immigration enforcement.
