A federal judge on Monday rebuffed immigrant rights advocates’ attempt to shut down Homeland Security’s efforts to get information about illegal immigrants from the IRS.
Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee to the court in Washington, said as long as the information is being sought to pursue a criminal investigation, it appears Homeland Security is on solid legal footing.
“At its core, this case presents a narrow legal issue: Does the Memorandum of Understanding between the IRS and DHS violate the Internal Revenue Code? It does not,” she ruled.
Republicans have long demanded immigration authorities enlist the help of the IRS, which has records on millions of unauthorized migrants here who pay taxes on their illegal earnings.
Illegal immigrants are ineligible for Social Security numbers, so they work under what’s known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Registering for an ITIN requires a full name, current address and some other identifying information.
That could prove handy for immigration officers trying to identify someone who snuck back into the country after deportation, or to verify someone was at a particular address at a particular time, the judge said. The address could also be used to send deportation orders, she said.
IRS records are generally secret, and sharing them outside the agency is severely restricted.
But there are exceptions in the law for pursuing an investigation to enforce some criminal laws.
Homeland Security is reportedly hoping to get information on 700,000 illegal immigrants.
Activists objected, saying there’s no way the government can be pursuing that many criminal cases. They say they fear the government wants the data to pursue deportations, which are a civil matter, not criminal.
Judge Friedrich said that’s speculation right now.
She said Homeland Security can obtain the information as long as it provided a name and address.
