The Internal Revenue Service and the White House argued over whether the IRS should share tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants just hours before Trump administration officials removed IRS Commissioner Billy Long, according to The Washington Post.
On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security sent the IRS a list of more than 40,000 names it believed belonged to people in the country illegally. DHS asked the IRS to use confidential taxpayer information to confirm their addresses, sources told the paper.
In April, the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS, approved an arrangement to allow the information sharing—against the advice of IRS privacy lawyers. DHS officials have indicated they might ask the IRS to help locate as many as seven million people. Federal estimates place the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. at about 11 million.
The IRS said Friday it could verify fewer than 3% of the names DHS provided. Most matches came from cases where DHS included an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), which many immigrants use in place of a Social Security number to file taxes.
According to The Washington Post, Long told IRS executives the agency would not share taxpayer data outside the parameters of its agreement with DHS. The IRS also refused a White House request for additional details, such as whether any identified taxpayers had claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit, citing privacy protections.
Long had served as IRS commissioner for less than two months before Trump nominated him Friday to become ambassador to Iceland. It remains unclear whether the data-sharing dispute played a role in his departure.
A White House spokesperson said the Trump administration aimed to break down “information silos” and prevent undocumented immigrants from “taking advantage of benefits meant for hardworking American taxpayers.” The spokesperson dismissed any claim of internal disagreement as “totally fake news.”
DHS said its agreement with the IRS “outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer information is protected, while allowing law enforcement to effectively pursue criminal violations.” The agency argued the process helps remove violent criminals, clean voter rolls, and track public benefits used by undocumented immigrants, while safeguarding citizens’ safety and data.
Long expressed enthusiasm for his new post, calling it an “honor to serve my friend President Trump.” In a lighthearted remark on X, he joked that he had asked to join ICE but Trump “thought I said Iceland.”
A White House official told The Post that Long’s promotion to ambassador “was previously slated to happen.”
Leave a Reply