Marketplace Tech IRS data deal with ICE raises privacy alarms
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Jul 23, 2025 A recent investigation reveals a controversial automated program that could allow ICE to access millions of IRS taxpayer records. Concerns about privacy rights are raised as the Trump administration intensifies deportations. Discussions highlight potential inaccuracies in identifying individuals and the legal risks for IRS officials. The legal frameworks surrounding taxpayer confidentiality and law enforcement data requests are explored, showcasing the delicate balance between enforcement needs and individual privacy protections.
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IRS Data Matching Risks
- The IRS system to share data with ICE tries to match names from a large ICE-provided spreadsheet against IRS databases, creating risk of errors.
- The system uses competing methods to find matches, which increases chances of incorrectly identifying individuals.
Data Sharing Scale Change
- Previously, IRS data sharing with ICE happened manually, limited to dozens of cases at most.
- ICE now requests data on millions of records, a scale far beyond past practices.
Legal Guardrails for Data Access
- ICE must substantiate investigations with officer name, criminal statute, and final removal order date to request IRS data.
- IRS chief counsel denied ICE's data request for failing to meet these legal requirements.