The Internal Revenue Service is building a computer program that would give deportation officers unprecedented access to confidential tax data.
ProPublica has obtained a blueprint of the system, which would create an “on demand” process allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain the home addresses of people it’s seeking to deport.
Last month, in a previously undisclosed dispute, the acting general counsel at the IRS, Andrew De Mello, refused to turn over the addresses of 7.3 million taxpayers sought by ICE. In an email obtained by ProPublica, De Mello said he had identified multiple legal “deficiencies” in the agency’s request.
Two days later, on June 27, De Mello was forced out of his job, people familiar with the dispute said. The addresses have not yet been released to ICE. De Mello did not respond to requests for comment, and the administration did not address questions sent by ProPublica about his departure.
DeMello was actually the second general counsel, hired to replace another one who said that their proposal was illegal and unethical.
The Department of Government Efficiency began pushing the IRS to provide taxpayer data to immigration agents soon after President Donald Trump took office. The tax agency’s acting general counsel refused and was replaced by De Mello, who Trump administration officials viewed as more willing to carry out the president’s agenda. Soon after, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, and the IRS negotiated a “memorandum of understanding” that included specific legal guardrails to safeguard taxpayers’ private information.
In his email, De Mello said ICE’s request for millions of records did not meet those requirements, which include having a written assurance that each taxpayer whose address is being sought was under active criminal investigation.
“There’s just no way ICE has 7 million real criminal investigations, that’s a fantasy,” said a former senior IRS official who had been advising the agency on this issue. The demands from the DHS were “unprecedented,” the official added, saying the agency was pressing the IRS to do what amounted to “a big data dump.”
The biggest police force in the country, unaccountable and out of control, wants access to Americans’ personal data.
Noem says that every single detention by ICE and CBP is the result of probable cause determined by a thorough investigation which is absurd. They are trolling Home Depots and city parks looking for anyone who looks Latino. They are stopping drivers who look Latino. They are raiding workplaces and rousting people on the streets demanding to see their papers. There is voluminous video of this happening. She is a liar.
This IRS move is nothing more than a fishing expedition. And don’t kid yourself. This new secret police force is going to be set loose on anyone the administration believes is “harboring” or lending “material aid” to undocumented immigrants. This is where they’re headed. And I would expect the Supremes to back them all the way.