Wyden, Merkley, Colleagues Demand Answers on DHS, DOGE Requests to Access Sensitive IRS Information
Washington D.C.—U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., today led Senate colleagues, including Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., in a letter to top officials with the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demanding answers on reports that DHS and the self-styled “Department of Government Efficiency” have illegally requested sensitive taxpayer information from the IRS.
“We write about alarming reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has asked for unprecedented access to private taxpayer data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” the senators wrote Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause, IRS Acting Chief Counsel Andrew De Mello and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “Elon Musk and his associates at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have also reportedly sought to cross-reference taxpayer data with sensitive personal data held by other agencies that provide public benefits.”
According to a Washington Post report, DHS officials requested the IRS turn over home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of more than 700,000 people in an apparent attempt to weaponize the tax system against those suspected of being undocumented immigrants. This unlawful move would target people paying taxes and contributing to U.S. communities and is the latest Trump Administration attempt to target immigrant communities. It was also reported that DOGE sought access to sensitive personal tax records, the sharing of which would be illegal.
“In addition to violating tax privacy laws, the wholesale sharing of tax return information with DHS or DOGE, as described in the press, would also penalize individuals for complying with federal tax law and undermine the IRS's core mission of tax collection by reducing voluntary tax compliance,” the senators wrote. “According to official government data, millions of taxpayers who do not have a social security number file their taxes with the IRS each year using an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), including many undocumented individuals. Such voluntary tax compliance depends on trust that the IRS will keep taxpayer data confidential.”
The letter was led by Wyden and Cortez Masto. In addition to Wyden, Cortez Masto and Merkley the letter was signed by Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
The full text of the letter is here.
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