IRS agrees to share migrants’ tax information with ICE

WASHINGTON — The IRS has agreed to help homeland security officials find immigrants they are trying to deport, according to court records, committing to sharing information in what would be a fundamental change in how the tax collector uses its tightly regulated records.

In a court filing, the Trump administration said that the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had reached the agreement Monday and that the two agencies had not yet shared any information. Under the terms of the deal, a partially redacted version of which was submitted in the case, ICE officials can ask the IRS for information about people who have been ordered to leave the United States — or whom they are otherwise investigating.

Federal law tightly controls taxpayer information, protecting home addresses, earnings and other data from disclosure even to other agencies within the government. IRS officials have for weeks warned that the Trump administration’s plan to use the IRS to help with deportations could be illegal. The top IRS lawyer was demoted as the agreement came together and was replaced by a former nominee of President Donald Trump.

“It’s unprecedented,” Nina Olson, the executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights and a former top IRS official, said of the Trump administration’s plan.

There are narrow exceptions to the prohibition on sharing tax information, and the agreement shows that the Trump administration will rely on a carve-out allowing its use in criminal investigations. The agreement repeatedly refers to a law that penalizes migrants who have not left the United States despite receiving a judicial order to do so.

A Treasury spokesperson said the agreement was “founded in long-standing authorities granted by Congress, which serve to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans while streamlining the ability to pursue criminals.”

Many workers lacking permanent legal status pay taxes, improving the financial outlook for federal programs such as Social Security. Immigration activists and tax lawyers said they had long trusted that the IRS would protect the confidentiality of migrants’ tax information. Advocacy groups have sued to try to block any information sharing, and the Trump administration disclosed the agreement in response to that suit.

Even the possibility of the federal government using tax information for deportations has already caused concern among immigrants.

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