Alliance between ICE and IRS creates unprecedented tactic planned by Trump administration to step-up deportations of undocumented migrants
It is a history-making alliance between the immigration agency known as "ICE" and the tax collection agency called IRS.
A data-sharing arrangement being engineered by the White House is consider by some investigators as an ICE secret weapon. The agency behind mass deportations by the Trump administration is planning on using income tax records to track down undocumented immigrants.
For years the IRS was considered untouchable to law enforcement agents-especially anybody from the Customs and Border patrol agency.
Even with splashy and well-publicized ICE arrests since President Trump re-claimed office, total deportations from the U.S. are well below the promises made on the campaign trail.
Now, the administration is reportedly close to a tactic that could drive up mass deportations; centered on the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS, with a wealth of personal records, is an agency that ICE wants to tap for tracing undocumented immigrants.
Because tax records have historically been held close, critics consider this an abnormal alliance between ICE and IRS: using taxpayer data for immigration tracking, to bolster mass deportations.
According to one tax expert: “it’s unprecedented.”
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It might also be surprising that individuals being deported actually file taxes. The tax collection stats though are astounding: undocumented individuals in the United States are said to pay $97 billion each year in federal and local taxes; six states each raise one-billion or more; including Illinois, where undocumented immigrants pay a billion and a half dollars. Immigration experts point to an ICE-chilling effect on tax-paying immigrants.
They say If the IRS data does help drive up deportations, the question will be: at what cost…not only in possible lost tax revenue, but also the sanctity of taxpayer's private information.
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Although the Trump administration contends it is legal to use IRS data to track illegal immigrants, there is a legal challenge currently in federal court. Two Chicago immigrant-rights organizations have filed a lawsuit in DC district court alleging the practice would be illegal and they are asking that it be prevented. A hearing on a preliminary injunction is set for April 16.
