(NewsNation) — The Department of Homeland Security and the IRS have reached an agreement granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to confidential taxpayer information to locate immigrants targeted for deportation, a DHS official confirmed to NewsNation.
“Information sharing across agencies is 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 taxpayer expense,” said Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to NewsNation.
Huge shift in original IRS policy to keep taxpayer information confidential
The data-sharing arrangement would allow ICE to submit the names and addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants to the IRS for verification against tax records.
This would mark a significant shift in longstanding IRS policy, which has traditionally kept taxpayer information confidential.
The Trump administration filed a memorandum of understanding on Monday with a court to establish a process for ICE to request IRS records in its investigations of criminal immigrants who have failed to leave the United States 90 days after a judge’s final removal order, according to Fox News.
A senior Treasury Department official told Fox News that these immigrants had already been given due process but overstayed their removal orders. The memorandum aims to protect sensitive taxpayer data while allowing law enforcement to pursue criminal violations, per the official.
The official emphasized that the Treasury Department is committed to safeguarding the privacy of law-abiding taxpayers but noted that a criminal exception requires the agency to assist law enforcement.
Trump pushes to use all resources available for deportation efforts
A draft agreement reported in March by the Washington Post said ICE would be limited to confirming the addresses of immigrants with final removal orders.
Acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell rejected a DHS request for data on 700,000 suspected undocumented immigrants previously, deeming it unlawful. O’Donnell retired the following day after 38 years with the agency.
His successor, Melanie Krause, has reportedly shown greater willingness to collaborate with DHS officials, per the Post. The Trump administration also replaced the IRS’ top attorney, who had opposed sharing taxpayer data across agencies
The agreement comes as Trump pushes his administration to use all available resources for what he has described as the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
NewsNation’s Justin Razavi, Jorge Ventura and Damita Menezes contributed to this report.