IRS Developing System to Share Taxpayer Addresses with ICE

Washington, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is constructing an automated system to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to access millions of taxpayer addresses “on demand,” marking a dramatic departure from longstanding confidentiality practices, according to a recent report from Government Executive citing ProPublica .

The blueprint—revealed in internal documents—shows that ICE would submit spreadsheets containing names, past addresses, removal order dates, and relevant criminal statutes. The system would then match these to IRS records and automatically dispense home addresses unless the request lacks required fields.

This move follows last month’s removal of Andrew De Mello from his post as acting chief counsel after he refused ICE’s request for 7.3 million addresses, citing “legal deficiencies” and protections under the April memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the IRS and Department of Homeland Security.

Key Stakeholder Reactions:

• IRS Staff & Privacy Advocates warn the system risks delivering outdated or incorrect addresses, leading to wrongful enforcement actions—characterized by one IRS engineer as “extremely likely”.

• Electronic Frontier Foundation and legal groups argue this violates the spirit and letter of IRS confidentiality laws, citing bulk disclosure risks and Watergate-era privacy safeguards.

• Administration Officials maintain it is lawful under current statutes (IRC §6103) and part of fulfilling President Trump’s campaign promise for large-scale deportations—White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson asserted it is not a surveillance system but a tool to target “criminal illegal aliens”.

Background Highlights:

• The data-sharing arrangement began under the Trump administration with an MOU signed in April that outlined specific “legal guardrails,” including proof of active criminal investigation per individual requested.

• Government reorganization under Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) played a role in reshaping the IRS’s tech structure and pushing for centralized, Silicon Valley–style data systems and Palantir-powered master databases.

• The dispute has triggered legal action—Public Citizen and other advocacy groups have sued to temporarily block the disclosure, while the Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted an amicus brief urging courts to consider privacy protections rooted in Watergate-era reforms.

About the IRS: The IRS is barred under Internal Revenue Code Section 6103 from sharing taxpayer returns or return information unless specific exceptions apply, typically in criminal investigations—an interpretation critics say did not account for mass, automated transfers .

Next Steps:

• The legal challenge will advance in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where opposing interpretations of “bulk” vs. targeted disclosures under existing law will be evaluated.

• Congressional oversight hearings may follow, as senators (e.g., Warren, Wyden) have already called for clarifications on IRS reassignments and internal access.

• The IRS Commissioner’s role remains in flux, with multiple high-level departures—including De Mello on June 27—reflecting deep internal discord.