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The Trump Administration Is Illegally Stealing Immigrant Families’ IRS Tax Information—and That Hurts Everyone
The Trump administration is putting everyone’s taxpayer information in danger. As part of Trump’s anti-immigrant Project 2025 agenda, the administration has arranged for the IRS to hand over private, protected taxpayer information to enable ICE’s horrifying deportations of immigrant families. According to recent reports, immigrant officials want to use taxpayer information to locate 7 million people. This is an unprecedented, entirely illegal act and it has terrifying consequences not only for immigrant families, but for all of us.
1. The Proposal Betrays Immigrant Families Who Contribute to the Tax System and the Economy
Using taxpayer information for deportations is the latest in a long line of the Trump administration’s horrifying attacks on immigrant workers and families. For decades, the federal government has encouraged immigrant families to pay taxes in accordance with federal law, and the government assured these families that their information was safe and protected. With this understanding, undocumented immigrant taxpayers pay billions in federal, state, and local taxes every year and contribute to public benefits programs that they are largely excluded from. Now, the administration is planning to use those families’ taxpayer information to aid in mass deportations. Our communities suffer when they lose the contributions of immigrant families, who are our neighbors, coworkers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and a significant share of those who care for our children and older and disabled family members—but this administration is not concerned with these facts. Its only goal is to stoke fear of immigrants so they can more easily enact their authoritarian, anti-immigrant Project 2025 agenda.
2. This Policy Sets a Dangerous Precedent That Endangers Everyone’s Taxpayer Information
The IRS’s agreement with ICE puts everyone’s information in danger. By law, the IRS cannot share taxpayer information except under very narrow circumstances that do not include immigration enforcement. This agreement violates those privacy laws and, along with DOGE’s attempts to access IRS and Social Security data, sets a dangerous precedent that any government agency can have access to private information even when explicitly outlawed. This is especially troubling in a political climate that is so hostile to women and families. For example, some policymakers have been attempting to pass tax credit expansions requiring pregnant people to provide sensitive pregnancy information to the IRS at a time when they are facing increased investigation and prosecutions around pregnancy outcomes. This agreement, and the administration’s other attempts to access private information, make these proposals even more dangerous.
3. This Anti-Immigrant Stunt Will Cost the U.S. Billions of Dollars—All While Republican Leaders Are Planning Massive New Tax Cuts to Billionaires
In addition to harming immigrant families and other taxpayers, this unprecedented and illegal action by the IRS to share confidential taxpayer data will likely cost the U.S. government billions of dollars in federal revenue. That’s because immigrants will be far less likely to pay taxes if they believe their information could be used to deport them. Immigrant families paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022 and contribute to programs like Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance. This potential loss is especially egregious in light of the fact that Trump and Republican leaders in Congress want to enact even more tax giveaways to billionaires while cutting programs for women and families. If this administration cared about supporting communities and strengthening the economy, it wouldn’t go after immigrant families who contribute to the tax system and give up billions in revenue—but it’s clear the administration only cares about enacting harmful and inhumane policies.
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This agreement will hurt all of us. It’s another part of the administration’s horrifying Project 2025 agenda to destroy the immigration system, expand surveillance, and undermine civil rights. The administration won’t stop at weaponizing the IRS against undocumented immigrants—it’s coming for us all.
