Immigrants are being unfairly forced into hiding after an ordeal between the IRS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement allowed ICE access to taxpayer information.
The IRS recently had an agreement to provide ICE clearance to disclose taxpayer information following President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. This means ICE can view whether a taxpayer filed using a Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Number, the latter being commonly used by undocumented immigrants.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Treasury Department cannot share private taxpayer details with ICE because it is illegal. Undocumented immigrants alone pay about $60 billion annually in federal taxes. Tax returns have always been a way for them to comply with the law and stray away from the accusation that they’re not doing their civic duty.
The estimated loss in tax revenue in just over a decade is around $300 billion.
Immigrants don’t trust that the government won’t retaliate for following the law, which will just push more immigrants into not following them.
Undocumented immigrants have already been excluded from many federal tax benefits. Now, they are forfeiting their rightfully earned refunds.
IRS officials — including Kathleen Walters, who vocalized her disapproval of the deal — have resigned after the deal with ICE.
Federal law specifically mentions that taxpayer information, home addresses and earnings are not to be shared, even with other government agencies. This raises concerns about the IRS due to its support of illegal negotiations.
A federal judge has blocked the IRS from sharing anything with ICE as it may violate taxpayers’ privacy rights. However, they have already shared 1.28 million names with ICE.
Many are in favor of ICE utilizing different methods to deport undocumented immigrants.
Steven Camarota, director of research at the think tank Center for Immigration Studies, argued that undocumented immigrants, who comprise at least 15% of U.S. workers, are taking desirable jobs and cheating their way into the system. He said tolerating large scale illegal immigrations in the workforce declines the expectations of U.S. citizens.
Sixty-nine percent of undocumented immigrants have at most a high school education, which prompts Americans to settle and supply more workers with just the equivalent. This is why they’re heavily centered among lower-waged jobs like retail, fast food or jobs deemed undesirable by Americans.
Camarota believed that those jobs are desirable and that competent citizens applying for them are being rejected in favor of illegal immigrants with less education. The workforce’s introduction of globalization caused long-term damage toward wages due to employers wanting less people with a low education level. He believed these variables are the direct factors of the decline in the labor force participation rate.
However, according to a study from Pew Research Center, most U.S. registered voters said documented and undocumented immigrants mainly fill jobs they do not want, despite differences in voters’ race and political alignment.
Camarota focuses primarily on the estimated number of illegal immigrants in the country, not the sample of other registered voters and citizens of the U.S.
Although there may be drawbacks regarding lower wages with more undocumented immigrants illegally residing in the U.S., the benefits outweigh them.
Without undocumented workers paying taxes, the government wouldn’t have as much financial liberty. Immigrants are necessary to fund federal programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Immigrants pay their taxes just like U.S. citizens and are doing it without the support of federal programs. They are not looking for handouts; they earned every penny.
Many U.S. citizens are in support of undocumented immigrants, attending and resigning from their employers to support those who are undocumented.
The government needs to adapt its ideologies to reflect those of its citizens.
