Tax records may soon be used to locate and deport illegal immigrants under draft agreement
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

A proposed agreement between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could significantly increase the federal government’s ability to locate and deport illegal immigrants by enabling ICE to access tax records maintained by the IRS. The deal, which has not yet been finalized, would represent an unprecedented level of interagency cooperation in the realm of immigration enforcement.

According to Fox News, the draft agreement would permit ICE to submit names and addresses of illegal immigrants to the IRS, which would then cross-reference its database and potentially return updated address information for enforcement purposes. This exchange would be authorized under a criminal investigation exemption to IRS privacy rules, traditionally reserved for cases like drug trafficking and financial crimes.

Tax attorney Adam Brewer told Fox News that the deal, if enacted, could have a chilling effect on compliance. “It is going to discourage those taxpayers from even filing, so it really does put them between a rock and a hard place,” Brewer said.

Illegal immigrants are required by law to file tax returns, and many do so in the hope of one day obtaining legal status. Brewer warned that the new arrangement could undermine that process and erode the credibility of the IRS. “For the IRS to get involved in criminal investigations, that’s not uncommon,” he said, noting past collaborations with the DEA. “But if illegal immigration itself is the crime … then yes, it’s pretty unprecedented.”

The Trump administration has increased pressure on federal agencies to improve deportation efficiency. President Donald Trump made deportations a central campaign issue and has since directed efforts toward streamlining immigration enforcement.

Despite internal IRS objections, the draft deal would allow ICE to utilize the latest tax return data to locate individuals who may have submitted outdated or misleading addresses in previous immigration filings. “If someone just filed a tax return last month for 2024, that address information would be more recent or more likely to be accurate than some immigration document they filed last year,” Brewer said.

Brewer emphasized that while such data could be useful for enforcement, the risk of alienating those who currently comply with tax obligations is considerable. “This feels like a deviation from what we’ve known for years … that if you share information with the IRS, it stops there,” he said.

The legal underpinning of the proposed agreement hinges on interpreting the act of entering or residing illegally in the country as a criminal offense eligible for IRS data sharing. Brewer cautioned that while information sharing with law enforcement is not new for the IRS, applying it in the context of immigration violations represents a significant departure from past practice.

Opponents argue that the move could deter undocumented immigrants from filing taxes altogether, disrupting an established channel of cooperation between the government and a vulnerable population. Brewer said the potential deterrent effect would mirror how individuals might avoid registering their vehicles if the Department of Motor Vehicles began forwarding address information to ICE.

As the administration finalizes the agreement, privacy advocates and immigration experts are expected to challenge the legality and implications of using IRS-collected information to facilitate deportations. The IRS and ICE have not yet confirmed the terms of the draft agreement, nor have they issued a timeline for implementation.

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