More than 90 Democratic lawmakers filed a brief with a federal court this week telling it to block an agreement between the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would give the immigration agency access to private taxpayer data.
The group of 93 senators and representatives called the data sharing agreement “unprecedented” and said it violates U.S. tax law.
“Despite clear congressional intent and decades of consistent IRS policy, the Trump administration is attempting to weaponize our tax code to meet arbitrary and draconian immigration enforcement quotas,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in a statement along with the amicus brief, filed in Centro de Trabajadores Unidos v. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
In the U.S., workers who are in the country illegally still often pay income and other types of taxes, as their wages can be subject to the same withholding and tax filing obligations U.S. citizens and other authorized workers are subject to.
“It’s no accident that the IRS and Congress for decades allowed all workers to pay into our system — it is an obvious and indisputable benefit for our nation,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement.
“The Trump administration seeks to upend a successful and proven policy for no discernible gain whatsoever. It’s expensive, it’s inhuman and it further erodes trust in our institutions.”
In May, a federal district court let the information-sharing agreement between the IRS and ICE go into effect.
The agreement allows ICE to access information provided on federal tax returns for the purposes of immigration enforcement.
It references a Jan. 20 executive order from President Trump meant to deliver “enhanced vetting and screening across agencies.”
The order directs the secretary of State and other top officials to “vet and screen to the maximum degree possible all aliens who intend to be admitted, enter, or are already inside the United States.”
Under the agreement, ICE can request information from tax returns for criminal investigations unrelated to tax compliance.
A district court approved the agreement after a legal challenge, which has since been raised to the appellate level, though a date for an oral argument has not been scheduled yet.
Many immigration and legal groups have voiced concerns about the agreement.
The American Immigration Council said it “blurs the distinction between criminal and civil immigration enforcement.”
“It remains unclear how broadly ICE will interpret its authority under the agreement,” attorneys for law firm Fox Rothschild wrote in a May analysis.
Privacy issues about taxpayer information at the IRS have been a concern for Republicans in recent years as well, following the leak of billionaires’ tax returns to the publication ProPublica.
“The leak or hack of private taxpayer information and unauthorized disclosure by advocates at ProPublica cannot be ignored or swept under the rug,” Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said in a 2021 letter after the tax returns of Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and others were published by the outlet.
The Trump administration has been carrying out a wide-ranging migrant crackdown in different states that migrant groups have said are violating the law.
“Recent weeks have seen intensified ICE raids in immigrant-rich communities … with families reporting early morning arrests, racial profiling, and detentions without legal support,” the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts said in a statement in May.
One worker, identified only as Isabel in the LUCE statement, described violent actions being carried out by ICE.
“ICE is breaking car windows, forcibly exploiting people, breaking down doors without a criminal record, and taking away hardworking people whose only crime is seeking a better life,” the woman said.
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