IRS data unreliable in ICE immigration efforts, inspector general says
by Joe Fisher · UPIJune 8 (UPI) -- The Taxpayer Inspector General reported Monday that the use of IRS taxpayer data for immigration enforcement has been inconsistent and unreliable.
The report said that the IRS provided addresses for nearly 47,000 people to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a data-sharing agreement when the Trump administration ramped up its deportation efforts.
It also found that ICE did not meet the safeguarding standards for receiving confidential taxpayer information.
"Our evaluation found that, before releasing address information on individual taxpayers, the IRS developed an automated process to match ICE data to IRS records," the report reads. "However, the criteria were unable to identify and match the records accurately and consistently."
ICE and the IRS entered a data-sharing agreement last year with ICE asking for tax information and last known addresses for more than 1.2 million people. The IRS said in February that it improperly shared address data in "less than five percent" of the 47,000 addresses it shared with ICE.
"The IRS stated that it rejected records that did not meet certain conditions," the report says. "However, the process implemented by the IRS failed to identify all records that should have been rejected."
ICE's request for addresses from the IRS is the subject of at least two lawsuits. In November, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the IRS from sharing any more taxpayer information with the Department of Homeland Security.
The inspector general did not recommend any corrective action.
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President Donald Trump discusses renovations to the Lincoln Reflecting Pool and makes an announcement on coal in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo