IRS Nears Deal to Share Private Taxpayer Information with ICE to Hunt Immigrants
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is nearing an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would allow immigration officials access to legally protected taxpayer information, according to reports today from the Washington Post. Personal tax information, including an individual’s name and address, is confidential and cannot be used to locate individuals for removal by ICE. However, under the deal reported today, ICE would be able to submit names to the IRS which would cross-reference the data against confidential taxpayer databases, according to the report.
On Wednesday, a U.S. District Court refused to issue a temporary restraining order that would have barred the IRS from sharing such data with the immigration officials. Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and Immigrant Solidarity Dupage—represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, Alan Morrison, and Raise the Floor Alliance—is currently suing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to bar it from unlawfully disclosing individual tax return information to immigration enforcement officials.
Nandan Joshi, attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel in the case, issued the following statement:
“The IRS must disclose the terms of its unprecedented information sharing agreement with ICE. Attempts by the Trump administration to gain access to the confidential taxpayer databases to engage in mass removal of workers would violate the tax law that protects the privacy of all taxpayers and undermine the protections promised to every taxpayer who files tax returns with the IRS.
“Attempting to gain access to personal and confidential taxpayer information crosses a line that Congress put into place after Richard Nixon used tax records to go after his enemies during Watergate. The administration’s desire to speed up their deportation agenda does not justify jettisoning decades of taxpayer protections. If this deal is being negotiated in good faith, the government should not need to keep it secret.”
Kevin Herrera, Legal Director of Raise the Floor Alliance and co-counsel in the case, issued the following statement:
“The Trump Administration’s attempt to hijack confidential taxpayer data for immigration enforcement in the middle of tax season is not only disturbing and unprecedented, it is reckless. ITIN filers rely on legal protection of their private information to feel safe paying into programs like social security, medicare, and thousands of other essential government services that all Americans use. Without the assurance of privacy, our entire tax system will be eroded,” said Kevin Herrera, Legal Director of Raise the Floor Alliance. “We will not be idle while our communities are under attack. We will continue to seek judicial intervention and use every tool at our disposal to stop this administration’s campaign of prejudice and terror.”
The complaint and motion for a temporary restraining order can be found here. For additional information on the case, or to request an interview with the litigation team or our plaintiffs, contact Patrick Davis, pdavis@citizen.org.
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