Democrats Demand Details of Alleged IRS Taxpayer Data Release

The Homeland Security Department and the IRS must provide an exact accounting of which taxpayers’ information was recently disclosed and whether it led to improper detentions or deportations, a letter from Senate Democrats said.

A Wednesday court filing from the IRS revealed new admissions from the agency that it inappropriately overshared some immigrants’ address information with DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lawmakers and privacy advocates long expressed concerns that a 2025 agreement between the IRS and DHS to share immigrants’ data in order to assist in criminal investigations could lead to the mishandling of sensitive tax information.

“The IRS now admits that this system led to exactly the kinds of grave mistakes our taxpayer privacy laws were designed to prevent, and that Congress as well as IRS employees previously warned could happen under this data-sharing agreement,” lawmakers said in their letter to acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem released Friday.

Led by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and member Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), the lawmakers called for explanations of exactly how many taxpayer records were shared improperly and who was responsible.

They also asked for details on what accountability measures the IRS will take to prevent this from happening again and whether anyone was wrongly detained or deported based on information gleaned from taxpayer data.