Padilla Statement on IRS-ICE Taxpayer Privacy Data Sharing Violations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, issued the following statement after a U.S. district judge ruled that the data-sharing system between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resulted in almost 43,000 cases of the Trump Administration violating strict taxpayer privacy laws:
“The IRS’ mass handover of sensitive taxpayer data to ICE isn’t just outrageous — it is flatly illegal. This unprecedented breach of taxpayer privacy tramples the rights of immigrants and citizens alike. Because of the Administration’s reckless, error-prone data-sharing system, innocent, hardworking people who pay taxes and contribute to our economy are being put directly in harm’s way and may have been wrongfully targeted for immigration enforcement. This is exactly the kind of abuse our tax laws were carefully designed to prevent.
“I will not stop fighting to hold Kristi Noem, Scott Bessent, and all those responsible accountable for this unlawful scheme in Donald Trump’s cruel mass deportation campaign.”
Senator Padilla has led the charge against the IRS-ICE data-sharing agreement. Earlier this month, Padilla and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) demanded answers and accountability from the IRS after the agency admitted in a court filing that the flawed system it adopted to transfer people’s home addresses to ICE potentially led to thousands of records being shared improperly in violation of taxpayer privacy laws. Senators Padilla, Wyden, Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and additional Senate Democrats warned early last year that the data-sharing agreement between the IRS and ICE would result in serious errors and violate taxpayer privacy. They demanded details about the status and potential misuse of the data-sharing program as recently as January 30 of this year.
Last spring, Senators Padilla, Wyden, and Cortez Masto led a letter and statement condemning the IRS’ plan, raising the alarm on initial reports that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Government Efficiency illegally requested sensitive taxpayer information from the IRS.
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