ProPublica obtained a blueprint of a plan from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to build a computer program to create an “on demand” process to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to confidential taxpayer information, including the home addresses of over 7 million individuals it is seeking to deport. Pro Publica also obtained information that the recently fired Acting General Counsel of the IRS objected to the plan because of “several deficiencies.” In particular, the request ignored requirements in the memorandum of understanding reached between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security providing that ICE will only be provided confidential taxpayer return information of immigrants under active criminal investigation. This development comes amid reports that federal immigration officials are demanding that landlords turn over leases, rental applications, forwarding addresses, identification cards and other information on their tenants, a sign the Trump Administration is targeting landlords to assist in its deportation efforts.
These revelations followed reports on Tuesday that Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons recently ordered his agency to make any immigrants who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border ineligible to be released from detention on bond during the pendency of their deportation cases, which can last for months or even years. Separately on Tuesday, the Trump Administration deported five migrants from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen to the tiny African nation of Eswatini as it continues sending migrants to third countries far from their native country to encourage immigrants to “self deport” to avoid being sent to a strange country far away from their homeland.