The Public Must Be Able to See the IRS’ Data-Sharing Agreement with ICE
A new policy that would allow the IRS to share personal taxpayer information with ICE has not been fully released to the public. American Oversight is fighting to bring the agreement into the light of day.
Despite the danger that sensitive information for millions of taxpayers could be compromised, the specifics of a new data-sharing agreement between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has remained shrouded in secrecy.
The agreement came in response to pressure from the Trump administration as it seeks to use information about undocumented immigrants to aid its mass deportation plans. But important details in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security — currently at the center of an ongoing lawsuit — have been improperly shielded from the public, keeping secret vital information about exactly what tax data the IRS plans to share with immigration authorities.
American Oversight recently intervened in the lawsuit against the IRS, which was filed in March by the nonprofit Public Citizen on behalf of two migrant workers’ rights groups, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, and aims to prevent the IRS from sharing taxpayer data with ICE. Our intervening motion, filed on May 1, argues that the public’s common law right of access to judicial records requires the full release of the unredacted MOU as well as any briefs submitted in the case that were filed with redactions. Our motion came after we filed a suite of public records requests seeking related documents from both ICE and the IRS.
Undocumented immigrants are required to pay income taxes but do not have Social Security numbers. The IRS issues individual taxpayer identification numbers to people without Social Security numbers, including undocumented workers. All taxpayer information, including these numbers, must be kept confidential under the Internal Revenue Code, and can only be disclosed as the code directs. Recently, ICE agents reportedly told IRS officials they hoped to use the information to aid in the deportations of as many as 7 million people. If the data-sharing agreement between ICE and the IRS is implemented, it could jeopardize the confidentiality of sensitive information for millions of taxpayers.
Minutes after filing our motion, the court ordered the government to swiftly file a redacted version of a brief that it had initially submitted fully under seal, and set briefing deadlines for remaining issues, including the redacted MOU.
On Wednesday, American Oversight filed a reply brief seeking to make public the information still hidden under redactions, which the government argued should remain private by improperly invoking a privilege typically used to shield sensitive, specific law enforcement tactics or the identities of confidential sources, not general information in a government contract. The public has a right to access all judicial records unless a party can demonstrate in court why certain documents should not be public. In this case, the MOU and other important documents were filed under seal without DHS or the IRS first demonstrating why.
Our reply brief asks the court to unseal all sealed records filed in the case, including the unredacted MOU and briefs filed by the defendants that could provide further information about the agreement. It reiterates that DHS and the IRS have withheld public information about the agreement in violation of the public’s right to access court documents and asks the court to make all sealed or redacted information in the case publicly available.
The IRS has a legal obligation to protect private and confidential taxpayer information. The potential weaponization of undocumented taxpayers’ personal details to fuel the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, including its mass deportation efforts, represents a serious threat to taxpayers’ rights, including the right to privacy. Bringing these documents to light could help people and organizations representing immigrant communities provide important information about what personal information is at risk and how ICE could use that information to target individuals. The American people have the right to know more about the Trump administration’s incursion into personal privacy as it seeks to carry out its anti-immigration agenda.