The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reportedly approaching a contract to enable immigration officers to use tax data to support Donald Trump’s deportation agenda.
Under the proposed data sharing agreement, it is said to be in negotiations for weeks, so immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) can hand over undocumented names and addresses of immigrants to the IRS, which could raise concerns about power abuse from the Trump administration and erosion of privacy rights.
If access to this sensitive database is agreed, it marks a major change and will likely be the first time immigrant officials have relied on tax systems for enforcement assistance in such a drastic way.
Under the agreement, the IRS uses a confidential taxpayer database, a move that violates long-standing trust in the confidentiality of tax information, to cross-reference undocumented immigrant cross-references. According to the Washington Post, such data are considered historically sensitive and are closely guarded by it, so reported transactions raised alarm bells in the IRS.
The IRS website states that undocumented immigrants are “comprised by US tax despite their illegal status,” and because most people cannot obtain a Social Security number, agents allow them to submit individual taxpayer numbers known as ITINS. The agency also gives them the same reporting and withholding obligations as US citizens who received the same type of income. More than half of the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States file income tax returns to document payments to the government.
The IRS requires that taxpayer information be protected, but section 6103 of the agency’s website outlines that “under court orders it may be shared with law enforcement agencies for tax criminal law investigation and prosecution.” However, a source familiar with the issue told the Washington Post that these privacy law exceptions are rarely weaponized in cooperation with immigration enforcement, and this is outside of standard procedures.
The potential changes in the use of taxpayer data are reportedly contributing to the enforcement of criminal penalties, as it has not been used before, and rarely constructs criminal cases, consistent with many of the more aggressive immigration policies Trump is pursuing.
During his campaign, Trump has pledged to deport millions of undocumented people in the United States, and the report on this new contract sheds light on how he plans to do so. Since becoming president, he has ended the legal pathway for immigrants to come and stay in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Friday it would revoke temporary legal status for more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicalargus and Venezuelans, saying major U.S. cities like Chicago and New York have a high immigrant population with ice attacks and enforcement operations.
And on Sunday, members of the Trump administration defended last weekend using the wartime law of 1798, Alien Enemy Act, to deport 137 Venezuelan immigrants on the grounds that they committed violent crimes and sent money back to Venezuela. The administration deported immigrants, despite the judge’s worded orders saying they would not.
Border Emperor Tom Homan said in an interview with ABC News that the administration would not violate a court order arising from legal challenges surrounding the calling of alien enemy laws during the war to force allegations of Venezuela gang members.
“I don’t care what the judges think about this case,” Homan told ABC, referring to the federal judge’s efforts to determine whether the administration has already ignored previous orders that temporarily halt the suspension.
Attorney General Pam Bondy spoke to the deportation in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, and the fight against gang members was similar to “modern war.”
