The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to share the personal information of undocumented taxpayers with immigration authorities, a new court filing shows.
“DHS can legally request return information relating to individuals under criminal investigation, and the IRS must provide it,” according to the document.
Immigrants without legal status contribute billions in tax revenue every year and the IRS has kept their tax returns, which include home and work addresses, private.
Sharing this information will help immigration enforcement agents find undocumented immigrants faster, and potentially help the Trump Administration achieve its deportation goals.
But it could also discourage undocumented immigrants from paying taxes and lead more to work in the informal economy.
Border Czar Tom Homan argues that this deal is about protecting social security in a recent interview with Axios.
“This is about protecting social security for American people,” Homan said.
“Illegal aliens use the social security numbers of American people everyday.”
He argued that it’s a crime to collect these benefits when you’re not supposed to and this cooperation will help investigators.
