IRS agrees to share taxpayer data of undocumented immigrants to ICE for deportations

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agreed to disclose taxpayer information to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportations after a little over a month of negotiations.

While both agencies were finalizing the deal, the Public Citizen Litigation Group, Alan Morrison and Raise the Floor Alliance filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against Trump Administration officials to stop the IRS from disclosing tax return information to immigration enforcement authorities.

The IRS disclosed its memorandum of understanding with the Department of Homeland Security in a court filing responding to the Public Citizen lawsuit. According to the memo, it reveals that the IRS will disclose to ICE the names and addresses of undocumented immigrants, along with other information. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. This agreement between the two federal agencies has marked a major change, not just in the IRS policy of confidential taxpayer information, but in how tax records can now be used.

The 15-page memorandum document includes several pages of rules and requirements for how ICE officers must handle the information they receive. Even though the lawsuit is still in motion,

both entities decided to push forward with the deal anyway, disregarding undocumented immigrant advocates' concerns and immigrants who file taxes every year with a nine-digit code known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in 2022 undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes. For many years the IRS has consistently assured undocumented taxpayers that their information is confidential and that it would be safe for them to file tax returns, but now with this new agreement in place, many may be hurt by the policy change.