(WASHINGTON) -- The IRS and Department of Homeland Security have reached a data-sharing agreement to support the Trump administration's immigration enforcement agenda, according to a court filing late Monday night.
Under the terms of the agreement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would submit names and addresses of immigrants living in the United States without legal status who have final removal orders, which would be used to check against IRS taxpayer records.
"As laid out in the MOU, DHS can legally request return information relating to individuals under criminal investigation, and the IRS must provide it," the court filing said. The actual memorandum of understanding was filed in court and said the agencies are exercising this authority under the president's executive order.
"Each request will attest that [redacted] information will only be used by officers and employees of ICE solely for the preparation for judicial or administrative proceedings or investigation that may lead to such proceedings," the MOU said.
A spokesperson for the Treasury Department confirmed the MOU and said the basis is legal.
"The Internal Revenue Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a clear and secure process to support law enforcement's efforts to combat illegal immigration," the Treasury spokesperson said.
"The bases for this MOU are founded in longstanding authorities granted by Congress, which serve to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans while streamlining the ability to pursue criminals," the spokesperson added. "After four years of Joe Biden flooding the nation with illegal aliens, President Trump's highest priority is to ensure the safety of the American people."
The MOU, according to a Treasury Department official, creates guardrails for the agencies to follow in carrying it out.
Consistent with IRS privacy protection laws, specifically Internal Revenue Code Section 6103, the Treasury Department is committed to protecting the taxpayer data of lawfully abiding persons, the official said.
However, Section 6103 has a criminal exemption. This exemption obligates the IRS to assist law enforcement in the pursuit of criminals and will be used against any migrant who has overstayed for more than 90 days as part of the carveout.
Veterans of the IRS have raised concerns about the unprecedented use of tax data and the use of exceptions to the strict laws governing its use, some of which are meant to help law enforcement in criminal investigations.
Section 6103 requires that the IRS keep individual taxpayer information confidential with certain limited exceptions, including with law enforcement agencies "for investigation and prosecution of non-tax criminal laws" with approval from a court, according to the agency's website.
Current and former agency officials also said they worry the new policy could affect tax collections and discourage immigrants without legal status who are working from paying taxes for a variety of reasons.
The IRS has allowed immigrants without legal status to file income tax returns with individual tax numbers. These migrants contributed $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes using borrowed or fraudulent Social Security numbers, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The court filings were filed in a case attempting to stop the MOU from being signed.
A senior DHS official said that under the Trump administration, "the government is finally doing what it should have all along: sharing information across the federal government to solve problems."
"Biden not only allowed millions of illegal aliens to flood into our country -- he lost them due to incompetence and improper processing," a DHS official said. "Information sharing across agencies is essential to identify who is in our country, including violent criminals, determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, as well as identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense."