The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States is closing a deal with the immigration department that would allow its officers to use tax data that would support Donald Trump‘s administration deportation agenda.
According to a report by The Washington Post, the proposed data-sharing agreement has been under negotiation for weeks. If the proposal comes into action, it would allow the IRS to cross-reference names of undocumented immigrants with confidential taxpayer databases, thus breaching the confidentiality of taxpayers’ data.
As per the IRS, “Foreign workers who are illegal aliens (undocumented aliens) are subject to U.S. taxes in spite of their illegal status.”
Since most of the illegal immigrants don’t have social security numbers, the IRS allows them to file their taxes with ITINs (Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers). As per The Guardian, more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in America file ITRs (Income Tax Returns) “to document their payments to the government.”
Under the proposed agreement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could hand over the details (names and addresses) of illegal immigrants to the IRS. If agreed upon, this would become the first time that immigration department relies on tax system for enforcement assistance.
Interestingly, under IRC Section 6103(l)(1), the IRS is not allowed to disclose tax information to a state Social Security Administrator (SSSA), state officials or other federal agencies. However, IRC Section 6103(i)(1) states that “pursuant to court order, return information may be shared with law enforcement agencies for investigation and prosecution of non-tax criminal laws.”
In The Washington Post report, sources familiar with the matter told that it would be rare for these privacy law exceptions to be used for cooperation with immigration enforcement and that this is outside of standard procedure. The proposal has sparked fear among the undocumented immigrants, knowing how Trump has been aggressive when it comes to his campaign promise of mass deportations.
An X user wrote, “The irs working w ice to release addresses of undocumented immigrants is just nasty work. it’s so scary to see what this country is becoming.”
The irs working w ice to release addresses of undocumented immigrants is just nasty work. it’s so scary to see what this country is becoming
— ginger spice (@yendysk) March 23, 2025
Expressing their concern, someone else added, “This is huge. No undocumented will trust the #IRS ever again, and so they’ll stop paying taxes. And that was a pretty sweet deal for the US, since they did pay their fair share -billions of dollars each year, but were not entitled to any compensation.”
This is huge. No undocumented will trust the #IRS ever again, and so they’ll stop paying taxes. And that was a pretty sweet deal for the US, since they did pay their fair share -billions of dollars each year, but were not entitled to any compensation. https://t.co/FTydtALUqC
— Rafael Salido (@SalidoRafael) March 22, 2025
In his campaign for the 2024 presidential election, Trump promised to deport millions of illegal immigrants living in the US. Ever since he has returned to the White House, he has taken strict measures to remove undocumented immigrants and stop the rest from entering and staying in the US. The above mentioned proposal is just another way to ensure that all remaining immigrants are also removed from America as soon as possible.
Last week, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the “termination of the CHNV parole programs and related employment authorization”. This program was introduced under Joe Biden‘s administration to allow migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to enter the US lawfully because of economic, security, political and health troubles in their homeland. Trump has now revoked the legal status of over 5 lakh migrants who had entered the US under this program.
As per ICE, the Trump administration has detained 32,809 migrants in its first 50 days in office, “almost half of whom were convicted criminals,” reported NDTV. Recently, more than 200 immigrants were deported to El Salvador’s mega prison by alleging that most of the deportees belonged to the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang.
