By FATIMA HUSSEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have railed against the IRS and its cadre of armed agents. Now the administration has big plans for them: It wants the agents to assist with immigration enforcement.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a request to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to borrow IRS workers to help with the immigration crackdown, according to a recent letter obtained by The Associated Press. It cites the IRS’s boost in funding, though the $80 billion infusion of funds the federal tax collection agency received under the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act has already been clawed back.
Noem’s request, asking for workers from the IRS Criminal Investigation unit within the Treasury Department, is a change in Republicans’ tone toward these workers but also exemplifies Trump’s focus on border security. It points to a broader shift in the overall direction of the federal workforce under the Trump administration — with workers being coaxed to resign, redesignated to different jobs or eventually be fired.
Republicans, both those in office and on the campaign trail, have long claimed — falsely — that the IRS planned to hire 87,000 armed agents to harass middle-income earners. But the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, which employed 2,144 special agents in 2023, is different from the larger IRS workforce of roughly 89,000 workers. These are the agents with guns who work on trafficking, fraud and other criminal cases in the field.
Now DHS wants those agents to serve in task forces with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, targeting employers engaged in unlawful hiring practices, monitoring immigrants in the country illegally and other tasks.
“Treasury has qualified law enforcement personnel available to assist with immigration enforcement, especially in light of recent increases to the Internal Revenue Service’s work force and budget,” Noem said in her letter to Bessent.
Trump teased the idea in January in Las Vegas, when he said of IRS employees: “We’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we’ll move them to the border.”
Experts in the tax and immigration fields say this particular request for diverting workers is unusual and could result in a loss of tax revenue.
While there is precedent across administrations for reassigning federal workers to do work unrelated to their original jobs, Noem’s request to Bessent is “extraordinary,” says Donald Williamson, the former executive director of the Kogod Tax Center at American University.
That’s in part because it calls for mobilizing people who don’t often deal with immigration issues and puts the ball in Bessent’s court to choose among thousands of IRS workers to serve DHS’s mission, he said.
“I don’t really look at IRS officials as G-men,” he said.
Williamson said he doesn’t consider DHS’s request as inconsistent with Republicans’ earlier criticisms of IRS hiring, but he noted that “it’s a redirecting of the IRS’s efforts” to align with the administration’s priorities.
“They have expertise of auditing employers” and can do some of the tasks outlined in Noem’s memo, he said.
Chloe East, who studies immigration policy and is a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, said tapping into the IRS workforce to focus on the border rather than on catching tax evaders will likely result in lower tax revenues at a time when the Trump administration says it is focused on cutting the deficit.
“We’re talking about billions of dollars in lost tax revenue” by shuffling IRS workers, East said. She said the passage of the Laken Riley Act will require the presence of more officers at the border.
“The Trump administration would rather pursue immigrants rather than pursue money launderers,” she said.
Representatives from IRS Criminal Investigation and Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.
Originally Published:
Source: Paradise Post