A pending agreement between the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could reshape federal enforcement — and put illegal immigrants in the crosshairs of deportation like never before.
The deal, which would allow ICE to access current address data by cross-referencing names with IRS tax records, has sparked concern among tax experts and longtime IRS insiders who worry the policy shift would break decades of precedent.
“This puts them between a rock and a hard place,” said Adam Brewer of AB Tax Law. “They’re required to file tax returns, but now they may be handing ICE the very rope to hang them with.”
Brewer emphasized that illegal immigrants often rely on tax filings to eventually apply for legal status. But if this data is now fair game for immigration crackdowns, many may stop filing altogether.
Trump’s administration has made it clear that swift deportation is a top priority, and this new data-sharing pipeline could speed up ICE’s operations significantly. While the IRS has previously worked with agencies like the DEA on drug cases, Brewer said applying the same approach to immigration is “unprecedented.”
He warned, “This feels like a deviation from what we’ve known for years … that if you share information with the IRS, it stops there.”
Under a 2025 executive order signed by President Trump, the federal government is stepping up cooperation between agencies in order to identify and remove illegal immigrants more efficiently. But that coordination is now threatening the IRS’s credibility — a tax agency long known for keeping taxpayer information tightly protected, regardless of immigration status.
“The IRS knows and ICE knows that these tax returns are required, and now they’ve really put a big disincentive in front of taxpayers from filing,” Brewer noted.
Some IRS staff reportedly objected to the agreement, pointing to past assurances made to immigrant communities that their filings would not be weaponized against them. But supporters of the plan argue that if one federal agency has reliable, up-to-date data that could assist another in enforcing the law, that’s just common sense.
“If someone just filed a tax return last month, that address is going to be more current than a visa application from a year ago,” Brewer admitted. “It’s more efficient.”
And efficiency may be exactly what ICE needs. The Trump administration has pledged to ramp up deportations — including workplace raids and home visits — and accurate location data could be the missing link.
The question now is whether immigrants will still be willing to file their taxes in the face of looming deportation threats — or if this move will simply drive them further underground. Either way, the message is clear: under Trump’s second term, even filing your taxes doesn’t shield you from ICE.
