The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have signed an agreement to share data on taxpaying illegal immigrants.
According to ABC News, a Monday night court filing said the agreement was made to support President Donald Trump and his administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
The agreement would allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit names and addresses of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status, particularly those who have final removal order, and would be checked against IRS data records.
“As laid out in the MOU, DHS can legally request return information relating to individuals under criminal investigation, and the IRS must provide it,” the court filing said.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was filed in court and said the agencies are able to exercise the authority under the president’s executive order.
“Each request will attest that [redacted] information will only be used by officers and employees of ICE solely for the preparation for judicial or administrative proceedings or investigation that may lead to such proceedings,” the MOU said.
ABC News further reported that a Treasury Department spokesperson said the basis is legal and the MOU establishes a clear process to support law enforcement.
“The Internal Revenue Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a clear and secure process to support law enforcement’s efforts to combat illegal immigration,” the spokesperson said.
“The bases for this MOU are founded in longstanding authorities granted by Congress, which serve to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans while streamlining the ability to pursue criminals,” the spokesperson added. “After four years of Joe Biden flooding the nation with illegal aliens, President Trump’s highest priority is to ensure the safety of the American people.”
A senior DHS official said that government under the Trump administration is “finally doing what it should have all along: sharing information across the federal government to solve problems.”
“(Former President Joe) Biden not only allowed millions of illegal aliens to flood into our country — he lost them due to incompetence and improper processing,” a DHS official said. “Information sharing across agencies is essential to identify who is in our country, including violent criminals, determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, as well as identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense.”
