Federal immigration officials are seeking to locate up to 7 million people suspected of being in the United States unlawfully by accessing confidential tax data at the Internal Revenue Service, according to six people familiar with the request, a dramatic escalation in how the Trump administration aims to use the tax system to detain and deport immigrants.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security had previously sought the IRS’s help to locate 700,000 people who are subject to final removal orders and had asked the IRS to use closely guarded taxpayer data systems to provide their names and addresses.
The two agencies have still not reached an agreement on how much data, or how, IRS will share.
But immigration enforcement officials on Thursday increased the volume of their request, according to the people familiar with it, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of professional reprisal. DHS officials initially said they would send preliminary queries about 2 million taxpayers, and eventually seek help locating 7 million individuals, the people said.
Federal officials estimate there are roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
IRS officials were aghast, according to people familiar with the discussion, and lawyers from both agencies have spent recent days negotiating the details. Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause has told subordinates she expects the agency to ultimately comply with the Trump administration’s aim of using IRS systems to help in immigration enforcement, The Post has reported.