The Internal Revenue Service is nearing a deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share the personal data of undocumented immigration who pay federal taxes.
The Internal Revenue Service is nearing a deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share the personal data of undocumented immigration who pay federal taxes.
Immigration lawyers are sounding the alarm for anyone with an IRS-issued individual taxpayer identification number, or ITIN, which is a specific number for people who do not have a social security number so they can file their federal tax returns. Those undocumented immigrants who thought they were doing things the right way by filing their tax returns are now fearing the worst.
Some are worried about ICE getting its hands on their ITIN and deporting them.
Immigration lawyers said the Trump administration first made the request saying they were only going after undocumented immigrants with serious criminal histories. But now they have added people with deportation orders and the fear is the administration will not stop there.
Immigration attorney Andrew Newcomb said out of the 11 or 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country, an estimated half pay federal taxes using their ITIN. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that in 2022, undocumented immigrants paid almost $60 billion in federal taxes alone.
"This creates a chilling effect, naturally with people that were otherwise going to file their tax return, being afraid or nervous about doing so," Newcomb said.
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