By Kari Jacobson
FAIR
On April 7, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of the Treasury signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) providing immigration enforcement authorities with access to the taxpayer information of certain illegal aliens. This agreement is the most recent in a series of efforts by the Trump administration to implement a whole-of-government approach towards fighting illegal immigration.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to utilize the new agreement to access the tax information of criminal aliens, including those with final orders of removal – allowing the agency to more quickly locate and deport such aliens from the United States. In the agreement, ICE specifically noted that the individuals set to be targeted under the MOU are the subject of criminal investigation, including under 8 U.S.C. 1253(a)(1), which details penalties for aliens who fail to honor final orders of removal.
The agreement further stipulates that to access taxpayer information, ICE must submit detailed requests for each alien to ensure the agreement is executed responsibly. In particular, ICE will submit requests in accordance with 26 U.S.C. 6103(i), which permits the IRS to disclose taxpayer information as part of a criminal investigation and requires the agency to provide:
- The name and address of the taxpayer;
- The taxable period or periods of return information needed for the investigation;
- The statutory authority under which the criminal proceeding or investigation is being conducted; and
- The specific reason or reasons why disclosure of return information is relevant to that proceeding or investigation.
On March 7, a month before the MOU was finalized, multiple open-borders groups sued Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Centro De Trabajadores Unidos v. Bessent. That lawsuit – filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia – was a response to the Executive Orders, “Securing Our Borders,” which the plaintiffs point out established a policy of “[r]emoving promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of Federal law, and “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” which outlines policies focused on “execut[ing] the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens.”
The plaintiffs in the case argue that these Executive Orders led to DHS efforts to obtain illegal aliens’ taxpayer information and sued to block those efforts. They are seeking an injunction to prevent the Treasury Department from providing immigration enforcement agencies with taxpayer information and argue that under law the Department is banned from providing taxpayer information for immigration enforcement purposes. In response, on April 7, the Department of Justice (DOJ) called for the case to be dismissed, arguing that the plaintiffs lack standing to sue and, in any event, that the actions outlined in the MOU are lawful.
The agreement between DHS and the IRS is critical for immigration enforcement authorities to more effectively track and remove aliens from the United States. Not only does it demonstrate the Trump administration’s commitment to fully enforce our immigration laws, but it will also bolster public safety in communities across the country that were left alone to face the harmful effects of open-borders policies for years under the previous administration.
