It was a turbulent week in Washington as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the White House found themselves at odds over the use of confidential taxpayer data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants. The dispute, which played out behind closed doors but quickly became public, culminated in the abrupt ouster of IRS Commissioner Billy Long, less than two months after he took the job. The events have sparked debate over privacy, immigration enforcement, and the politicization of the nation’s top tax agency.
According to reporting from The Washington Post and CNN, the tension reached its peak on Thursday, August 7, 2025. That day, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent the IRS a list containing more than 40,000 names of individuals it believed to be in the country illegally, requesting that the IRS use its access to confidential taxpayer information to confirm their addresses. The request was part of a broader Trump administration effort to locate, and potentially deport, large numbers of undocumented immigrants—a population that federal estimates put at roughly 11 million.
This wasn’t the first time the IRS had been asked to assist in immigration enforcement. Back in April, the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS, agreed to a new arrangement with DHS to facilitate such information sharing. The deal was controversial from the start, as it went against the advice of IRS privacy lawyers who warned about the risks of exposing sensitive taxpayer data. Despite those warnings, the arrangement moved forward, setting the stage for the latest clash.
DHS officials, emboldened by the agreement, suggested they might eventually ask the IRS to help locate as many as seven million people. The IRS, for its part, responded to the Thursday request by verifying fewer than three percent of the names submitted—mostly those for whom DHS provided an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN). ITINs are IRS-specific IDs that immigrants, including those without legal status, often use in lieu of a Social Security number when filing taxes.
The use of ITINs is not a loophole but a reflection of a complex reality: millions of undocumented immigrants pay tens of billions of dollars in taxes every year, contributing to the U.S. economy even as their legal status remains in limbo. According to The Washington Post, this fact has long complicated the debate over immigration and public benefits, as many of these individuals receive little in return for their tax contributions.
After the IRS’s limited response, White House officials pressed for more. They specifically asked whether any of the identified taxpayers had claimed the earned income tax credit, a benefit that reduces the tax burden for some low-income filers. The IRS declined, citing taxpayer privacy rights. As CNN reported, Commissioner Long had previously told his executives that the agency would not provide confidential taxpayer information beyond the narrow confines of the agreement with DHS.
The standoff over privacy versus enforcement quickly became a personnel issue. On Friday, August 8, 2025, Billy Long was forced out as IRS Commissioner, ending a tenure that lasted less than two months. The White House was quick to announce that Long would be nominated as the U.S. ambassador to Iceland, a move it insisted had been planned in advance. “Billy Long did a great job while at the IRS, and his promotion to ambassador was previously slated to happen,” a White House official told The Washington Post, speaking anonymously about personnel matters.
Long himself, a former six-term Republican congressman from Missouri, tried to put a lighthearted spin on the abrupt shift. On Friday, he posted on social media, “It is [an] honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland. I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead!” He added, “I saw where Former Superman actor Dean Cain says he's joining ICE so I got all fired up and thought I'd do the same. So I called @realDonaldTrump last night and told him I wanted to join ICE and I guess he thought I said Iceland? Oh well.”
But behind the jokes, the churn at the IRS was anything but funny. Long was the sixth IRS leader since the start of 2025, a year marked by high turnover and internal strife. One early acting commissioner departed amid a cost-cutting campaign led by Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, while another left after the agency agreed to the DHS data-sharing arrangement. A third acting commissioner lasted just two days before being pushed out due to an internal conflict between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has now been named interim IRS commissioner.
The White House, for its part, denied that there was any internal conflict over the IRS’s role in the immigration enforcement effort. “The Trump administration is working in lockstep to eliminate information silos and to prevent illegal aliens from taking advantage of benefits meant for hardworking American taxpayers,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “Any absurd assertion other than everyone being aligned on the mission is simply false and totally fake news.”
DHS also defended the information-sharing agreement, emphasizing that it “outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer information is protected, while allowing law enforcement to effectively pursue criminal violations.” The agency further argued, “After four years of Joe Biden flooding the nation with illegal aliens, these processes streamline pursuit of violent criminals, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense, all while protecting American citizens’ safety and data.”
Still, the episode has raised questions about the balance between privacy and enforcement, as well as the stability of the IRS under political pressure. Long’s departure is only the latest in a string of shakeups at the agency, which has struggled to maintain continuity amid competing demands from the White House, Congress, and the public. Critics warn that repeated leadership changes and controversial policy shifts risk undermining the IRS’s credibility and effectiveness.
As the dust settles, the fate of the IRS’s role in immigration enforcement—and the privacy of millions of taxpayers—remains uncertain. What’s clear is that the intersection of tax policy and immigration enforcement will continue to be a flashpoint in American politics, with real consequences for those caught in the middle.
