The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a move that breaks longstanding firewalls between tax policy and immigration enforcement. The new agreement will allow ICE to access limited taxpayer data and request assistance from IRS criminal investigators to support deportation efforts.

Under the terms of the pending deal, ICE will submit names and addresses of individuals suspected of immigration-related crimes, and the IRS will verify whether they match existing tax records. While the IRS will not provide full financial details, the “yes or no” confirmation is a marked departure from prior policy, which protected tax records to ensure undocumented immigrants were not discouraged from filing returns.

The Department of Homeland Security has also asked IRS criminal investigators to assist in operations targeting undocumented labor and human-trafficking networks. These agents would not only conduct financial investigations but could be deputized to help arrest and transport individuals for deportation.

Civil liberties groups warn that the move weaponizes tax enforcement and risks undermining billions in annual revenue collected from undocumented immigrants who pay taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). Critics say the collaboration will chill tax compliance and further criminalize immigrant communities.

The Trump administration argues the policy is essential to cracking down on illegal immigration and claims the IRS’s support will “strengthen national security.” But former IRS officials have described the move as “dangerous overreach,” and warn it could permanently erode the separation between civil tax functions and immigration policing.

The Crustian Daily will continue monitoring how this unprecedented interagency collaboration unfolds—and what it means for immigrant rights and tax policy in the United States.