IRS agrees to share immigrants' data with ICE
An ICE agent at a work site in Ohio. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to share the personal information of undocumented taxpayers with immigration authorities, a new court filing shows.
- "DHS can legally request return information relating to individuals under criminal investigation, and the IRS must provide it," according to the document.
Why it matters: Immigrants without legal status contribute billions in tax revenue every year. The IRS has previously kept their tax returns, which include home and work addresses, private.
- Sharing this information could help immigration enforcement agents find undocumented immigrants faster, and potentially help the Trump Administration achieve its deportation goals.
- But it could also discourage undocumented immigrants from paying taxes and lead more to work in the informal economy.
Zoom in: Tax returns can only be requested in the context of a criminal investigation, and immigration authorities have to provide information about the specific individual in question and the reason tax details are relevant to the investigation, per the filing.
What they're saying: Border Czar Tom Homan argues that this deal is about protecting social security in a recent interview with Axios.
- "This is about protecting social security for American people," Homan said. "Illegal aliens use the social security numbers of American people everyday."
- He argues that it's a crime to collect those benefits when you're not supposed to and this cooperation will help investigators.
- DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that information sharing was "essential to identify who is in our country, including violent criminals, determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, as well as identify what public benefits these aliens are using at the American taxpayer expense."
Reality check: Undocumented immigrants likely pay far more in Social Security taxes than is paid out to undocumented people through fraud.