WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, (D-OR), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Alex Padilla (D-CA) wrote to the acting Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration seeking an investigation into reports that the Trump administration is providing highly-sensitive and legally-protected taxpayer data to the Department of Homeland Security and DOGE personnel potentially violating federal privacy laws.

For years, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has encouraged immigrants to pay taxes with assurances that this information would remain confidential. In return, immigrants have paid billions of dollars in taxes each year. The senators’ request comes after Treasury Secretary Bessent signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Homeland Security to provide an unprecedented level of access to taxpayer data for open-ended investigations. Several high-ranking IRS officials, including the acting commissioner and chief privacy officer, then announced their imminent departures from the agency. The IRS already has the tools to share sensitive information with law enforcement. Instead enhancing public safety, it will put millions of immigrants in danger of deportation merely because they followed the guidance of previous Democratic and Republican administrations and paid their taxes.

“Taxpayer data held by the IRS is, by design, subject to some of the strongest privacy protections under federal law, the violation of which can trigger civil and criminal sanctions, including up to five years in prison. Congress passed these protections in the 1970s after President Nixon weaponized the IRS against his political enemies. These legal protections for taxpayer data apply to all taxpayers and are an essential foundation for our tax system, which requires the voluntary submission of information to the government. Voluntary tax compliance depends on taxpayers having faith that their confidential information will not be used for anything other than tax administration…

“Immediately following Bessent’s execution of the [agreement with DHS], several IRS leaders announced their resignations, including Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause and Chief Privacy Officer Kathleen Walters, raising further questions about whether they resigned to avoid being a party to a criminal conspiracy to violate tax privacy law… 

“The risks created by these activities cannot be overstated… [IRS] data can be inaccurate because of identity theft, keypunch errors, obsolete address information, and a wide range of other reasons. If DHS relies on the same data to deport millions of people without validating its accuracy, it is likely to end up making grave errors that impact American citizens and immigrants with valid legal status.”

The letter is cosigned by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA) Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Andy Kim (D-NJ).

To read the full text of the letter, click here.