This summer, federal agents invaded Los Angeles and began indiscriminately kidnapping community members. Emboldened by the Supreme Court and now flush with cash for more immigration enforcement, the Trump administration has vowed to intensify and expand the operations. And in this next phase, the administration is counting on a new secret weapon to turbo-charge the President’s mass deportation agenda: your private tax records.
An agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS enables ICE to access private tax records to hunt down and deport more people. Under the terms of the agreement, ICE is now breaching the privacy firewall at the IRS and capturing the addresses of immigrants who filed tax returns, in order to increase violent home raids and neighborhood invasions. So far, the IRS has given ICE personal data – including addresses – of 47,000 individuals. They won’t stop there – it has been reported that ICE is seeking data for up to 7 million people, including data for U.S. citizens, as the President now threatens to revoke citizenship and deport political opponents.
This plan is illegal. Federal tax law does not permit a data dump of private tax information in the way that the administration is attempting – and nearly everyone at the IRS seems to know the plan is unconscionable. In early August, Billy Long became the latest in a string of IRS commissioners and other senior career officials that have resigned or been pushed out after voicing legal and ethical concerns with these plans. Unfortunately, the unrelenting bullying by the administration is working, as it now appears that the IRS has buckled under the political pressure and has begun sharing data, while building a vast database that would give ICE on-demand access to the home address of millions of people.
It's ruthlessly cruel to weaponize private tax records for mass deportation – the only reason this data even exists in the first place is because immigrants relied on the promises of data privacy, played by the rules, and helped fund our government.
For decades, the IRS has issued Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) to undocumented immigrants to file taxes. Contrary to the myths, undocumented immigrants do pay taxes. In fact, millions of undocumented people use an ITIN to pay nearly $100 billion in taxes each year, despite being excluded from so many of the programs that their tax dollars fund.
Although significant, tax revenue is just the tip of the iceberg. Since the program was created nearly 30 years ago, millions of immigrants have used ITINs to work, start small businesses, purchase homes, and access educational opportunities. My organization, Inclusive Action for the City, uses ITIN to help immigrant entrepreneurs start and build the businesses that power our local economy. California has led the nation in using ITIN to expand access to the economy by adopting legislation requiring state and local agencies to accept ITINs to issue professional licenses and business permits, helping immigrants become licensed auto mechanics, street vendors, barbers, physicians assistants, and so much more. Many people have also obtained an ITIN to show “good moral character” to help in their application for legal status.
The ITIN program has become a cornerstone of our economy because the federal government has always – until now – followed the law and treated taxpayer privacy as a bedrock, bipartisan principle. Immigrants were encouraged to obtain ITINs with the promise that if they followed the law and filed their returns, they would be safe.
Directing immigrants to pay taxes only to then use their good faith participation in the process to trap them into deportation is a profound betrayal of public trust. It is also a very bad economic policy. This plan would dismantle the ITIN program as we know it, weaken our entire tax system, erode trust in our institutions, and wreak havoc across the economy. Workers will be forced back into the shadows, people will lose jobs, businesses will shutter, revenue will shrink, and communities will be less safe. Divulging private taxpayer data upends the integrity of our nation’s tax system and sets a dangerous precedent in which no one is safe.
That’s why my organization, Inclusive Action, and ourpartners have sued to stop this unlawful privacy breach. We recently took our fight up to the D.C Circuit Court of Appeals. While the case proceeds, more than 100 members of Congress have formally objected to this data sharing through official letters and by submitting legalbriefs in support of our lawsuit.
Everyone should be worried about safeguarding our civil rights, confidential taxpayer records, and data privacy from government overreach and abuse. But we’re not powerless. Call your representative and ask them to hold the IRS accountable and stop this data leak before it gets worse. Learn how to share know-your-rights materials in your community. Volunteer to help immigrants’ rights organizations. Participate in local mutual aid networks. Join organizations that are standing up to these injustices and building multiracial solidarity and power. We must do everything we can to stop this privacy breach before it gets worse.
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Doug Smith is Vice President at Inclusive Action for the City – a community development financial institution (CDFI) and advocacy organization in Los Angeles. Inclusive Action is a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit challenging the proposed data sharing agreement between the IRS and ICE.
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