With signatures being placed on a data sharing agreement last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now able to access tax filer data at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As another tenacle in President Trump’s immigration policy agenda, this new
arrangement has immigrants around the country nervous. The agreement is designed to have the IRS verify home addresses of targeted immigrants who may have been ordered to leave the country and have not yet done so, or others being investigated for
reasons that have not specified publicly.
This agreement has caused great concern from legal, privacy and immigrant focused organizations. There are federal laws that protect a tax filer’s information from being disclosed including to other federal agencies. However, there are narrow exceptions that allow data sharing when conducting criminal investigations. It is believed
that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is exploiting this exception, which has never been used at this scale, to carry out their deportation campaign. Many lawyers have been quoted in the press using words such as "illegal," "unprecedented," "real fear," and "dangerous territory" when providing reaction to the new agreement.
There are millions of undocumented individuals in the country who file a federal tax form on an annual basis using a taxpayer identification number. These filers pay over $43 billion in taxes each year. This new move may discourage many from filing their forms this year for fear of deportation.
The agreement has also caused upheaval at the IRS with many top officials resigning or taking the retirement option, including the acting leader, Melanie Krause. She is the second person in charge of the IRS to leave since President Trump took office. Others said to be leaving are the Chief Financial
Officer, the Chief Privacy Officer, the Chief Risk Officer, and the Chief of Staff.
To date, ICE has not been given access to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) database. We remind students and families to make informed decisions and
weigh the benefits of filing the FAFSA to access federal financial aid.
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