Targeting Immigrants Through IRS Data Will Erode Trust and Accelerate Authoritarian Rule
8 APRIL 2025
From mass data collection to mass disappearances, the Trump administration is building digital and physical dragnets to punish immigrants and dissenters alike
Washington, D.C. – This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secured a new agreement granting ICE access to sensitive IRS data, dramatically expanding its ability to surveil and target long-settled immigrant communities. The move comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling that allows the administration to continue using the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport individuals, provided it offers “reasonable notice” for legal challenges. The administration now has both the legal cover and the surveillance tools to fast-track disappearances with little to no accountability—while demanding $350 billion from Congress to supercharge these sweeping operations.
Statement from Beatriz Lopez, Co-Executive Director of the Immigration Hub:
“With the Supreme Court greenlighting Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act and the administration now gaining access to sensitive IRS data, we continue to slip into a new era of authoritarianism in America. The digital and physical dragnets that Trump is building mean millions of immigrants—many of whom have followed the law and paid their taxes for decades—are now vulnerable to indiscriminate brutality and quiet erasure with little opportunity for redress.
Undocumented immigrants already contribute billions to our economy—often paying a higher effective tax rate than 55 major corporations and some of the wealthiest individuals in America. By weaponizing private taxpayer data, the administration is shattering what little trust remains between immigrant communities and the government and putting critical revenue streams at risk.
Coupled with Trump’s xenophobic tariff threats and a $350 billion demand to fund mass disappearances and deportations, this is more than an attack on immigrants—it’s a calculated effort to destabilize the country and remake its image. Congress must reject this funding and the authoritarian playbook behind it. This is not policy. It’s punishment.”
###
The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.
