What’s at Stake
Federal law strictly prohibits the sharing of taxpayer data with limited exceptions. Disregarding this prohibition, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) has requested immigrants’ data from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Public Justice submitted an amicus brief to highlight the harms that would result from allowing that data to be shared in violation of the law, focusing on the risk that the data would be used to unlawfully assess fines.
Summary
Public Justice’s amicus brief shares the experiences of real people—citizens and noncitizens alike—whom the imposition of immigration civil penalties has severely impacted. ICE has imposed over 100,000 fines, and the numbers will grow dramatically if IRS were to share additional taxpayer data. Allowing DHS to misuse IRS data to scale its civil penalties operation would be hugely consequential: tens of thousands of noncitizen taxpayers and their loved ones would face the economic and emotional harms detailed in our brief by being subjected to predatory debt collection practices, seizure of their property, and unwarranted pressure to self-deport.
Core Legal Questions
Does the federal law prohibiting disclosure of taxpayer data, 26 U.S.C. § 6103, allow ICE to access that data for purposes of civil immigration enforcement? Allowing that data to be shared for such purposes would enable ICE and DHS to target individuals for monetary civil penalties. Public Justice, along with several of the other amici, are challenging those civil penalties in the Maria L. litigation. This brief highlights the many lawless aspects of ICE’s civil penalties practices and the real harm they cause.