A recent inspector general report is causing concerns about the security of taxpayer data.
ICE and the IRS agreed to share taxpayer information for immigration investigations. According to the Treasury’s inspector general, the plan, which allowed ICE to submit names and addresses of undocumented immigrants to the IRS for cross-checking against tax records, caused inconsistent formatting and led to errors. ICE requested address information on more than a million people, and the IRS gave ICE addresses for nearly 50,000 people.
The Treasury’s inspector general found that the IRS’s process was flawed. The poor formatting in the ICE’s database caused improper matches, including incorrect addresses marked as valid.
The idea to cross-verify tax and immigration data is a part of Trump’s sweeping immigration plan that has included controversial deportations, raids, and even using the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans.
In February, a judge ruled that the IRS unlawfully divulged taxpayer information to ICE and referred to the nearly 50,000 people whose addresses were shared with ICE. The judge found that tens of thousands of people’s data was shared with the Department of Homeland Security, ultimately for the purpose of deportations.
While the report didn’t make any recommendations, Nancy LaManna, the deputy inspector general, said the plan is to share the concerns with the inspector general of the DHS.
