Trump Administration officials are finalizing a data-sharing agreement between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, allowing immigration officials to use taxpayer databases to confirm the names and addresses of people who are in the country illegally. The plan has wrought chaos and concern through the IRS, as former and current officials balk at the idea of violating what has long been a red line.
The plan may result in a short-term increase in arrests and worksite raids for the White House to tout, but former and current government officials, as well as policy experts, warn that the significant policy shift could cause long-term damage—spurring a chilling effect across immigrant communities and sending undocumented immigrants who pay nearly $100 billion a year in taxes underground.