There may be one easy way to track down millions of illegal immigrants that the Biden administration left in the country: Use the Internal Revenue Service.
The Washington Post reported, “Federal immigration officials are seeking to locate up to 7 million people suspected of being in the United States unlawfully by accessing confidential tax data at the Internal Revenue Service, according to six people familiar with the request.”
The Department of Homeland Security had previously been in touch with the IRS to help find 700,000 people subject to removal orders.
“The two agencies have still not reached an agreement on how much data would be shared or how the IRS would share it,” the Post said.
“Acting IRS commissioner Melanie Krause has told subordinates that she expects the agency to ultimately comply with the Trump administration’s aim of using IRS systems to help in immigration enforcement,” according to the outlet.
The IRS is generally not allowed to give access to taxpayer information, but there is an exception for criminal investigations.
However, IRS executives told DHS representatives that sharing tax information may be illegal, because crossing the border illegally is a civil offense, not criminal one. So the back-and-forth continues, for now.
Dan Barnett, a fellow with the Center for Immigration Studies, argued in a piece for the New York Post last June, that the Biden administration broke the law by giving millions of migrants work permits.
“In 2022, 1.279 million work permits were handed out. By 2023 that number had risen to 2.139 million and 2024 is on track to break 3.3 million,” the Post said.
Should the IRS hand over this data?
People who work in the U.S. are subject to withholding taxes, and hence this is the reason the IRS has such a trove of personal information on illegal immigrants.
Turning Point USA’s Savanah Hernandez reported last month that she discovered tax advisers had set up a table outside a migrant shelter in New York City, coaching illegal immigrants on how they could file tax returns and get up to $14,000 in tax refunds, whether they were presently working or not.
She obtained a copy of a flier saying that migrants are eligible for child tax credits, with three children equaling $14,255.
Hernandez recommended in a post on X that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency look into the matter.
Musk responded to the post, “IRS refund fraud payments are one of several means used by the Democratic Party to attract and retain illegal immigrants in the USA. That’s why they are so opposed to @DOGE stopping this!”
IRS refund fraud payments are one of several means used by the Democratic Party to attract and retain illegal immigrants in the USA. That’s why they are so opposed to @DOGE stopping this!
The Democratic Party is aiding and abetting fraudulent government payments to illegals in… https://t.co/1t45vSnhce
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 30, 2025
“The Democratic Party is aiding and abetting fraudulent government payments to illegals in order to establish a permanent one-party majority nationally, just like they did in California,” he further asserted.
Using IRS data to track down and deport illegals would be poetic justice, since the Biden administration did so much to ignore and abuse the nation’s immigration laws, including fast-tracking migrants into the work force.
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