The Trump administration’s heavy-handed immigration crackdown could lead to a significant change in the IRS. A proposed change to the way that people without Social Security numbers can pay taxes may lead to people in the U.S. without authorization neglecting to pay their taxes out of fear of exposing themselves to immigration enforcement agencies.
Potential IRS change could lead to less taxes paid by undocumented immigrants
The New York Times is reporting that the Trump administration is considering a push to change the ways in which the Internal Revenue Service issues individual taxpayer identification numbers. ITINs are nine-digit codes issued to people without Social Security numbers to allow them to pay federal taxes and obtain bank accounts, credit cards; some states also issue driver’s licenses to people with ITINs. People currently eligible for ITINs include individuals who live abroad but owe taxes in the United States, as well as both undocumented immigrants and some immigrants with legal authorization to live in the U.S. Under the change being floated by the Trump administration, the IRS would be required to differentiate between undocumented immigrants applying for ITINs and other categories of eligible people, meaning that applicants would potentially have to explicitly dislose their immigration status when applying.
Experts warn of dangers of this plan for undocumented immigrants and for U.S. tax revenue. As Professor Austin Kocher of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University noted in a series of social media posts, the changes “could force people to disclose immigration status or disengage from the tax system entirely.”
A number of undocumented immigrants, wary of disclosing their status to the federal government, may stop paying taxes by failing to file returns or shifting to under-the-table jobs. As Kocher continues, “Undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022, per the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. If ITIN access narrows, the government likely collects less revenue, not more.”
Forcing status disclosures and restricting financial access for undocumented immigrants
The idea that undocumented immigrants would be deterred away from the tax system is based on real concerns. In 2025, the Trump administration attempted to force the IRS to share data on undocumented tax filers, including their addresses, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the purpose of facilitating deportations; a federal court blocked the plan. Trump has also repeatedly sought to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census, a move that was blocked by the Supreme Court ahead of the 2020 census. Adding a question would likely lead to an undercount of undocumented people, experts warn. It would also leave those in the U.S. without authorization to make a difficult choice: answer truthfully and potentially expose their undocumented status to the federal government, refuse to participate in the census, or give false answers to census-takers; the latter two options are technically federal crimes, though penalties are rarely enforced.
Likewise, the current proposed ITIN change at the IRS could push undocumented immigrants to disclose their status to the agency amid prior efforts by the Trump administration to hand that information over to ICE, or it could push unauthorized workers to commit tax evasion offenses. Republicans have also pushed various other restrictions on the abilities of both authorized and unauthorized immigrants to work and conduct financial transactions. In October, the Department of Homeland Security added red tape to the ability of hundreds of thousands of authorized immigrants to maintain their ability to legally work in the United States. And Trump administration officials and Republicans on Capitol Hill have proposed new rules to require banks and credit unions to verify the citizenship status of their customers.
It is unclear whether the Trump administration will successfully push through the potential ITIN change. Past efforts to leverage the IRS and other federal agencies like the Census Bureau for immigration enforcement policies have been resisted by the courts and by professionals who work in these fields. Nevertheless, the proposed changes demonstrate the extent to which the Trump administration is determined to advance its harsh immigration agenda.
The Trump administration’s heavy-handed immigration crackdown could lead to a significant change at the IRS. A proposed change to the way people without Social Security numbers pay taxes may lead to people in the U.S. without authorization neglecting to pay taxes out of fear of exposing themselves to immigration enforcement agencies.
Potential IRS change could lead to fewer taxes paid by undocumented immigrants
The New York Times is reporting that the Trump administration is considering a push to change the ways in which the Internal Revenue Service issues individual taxpayer identification numbers. ITINs are nine-digit codes issued to people without Social Security numbers to allow them to pay federal taxes and obtain bank accounts and credit cards; some states also issue driver’s licenses to people with ITINs. People currently eligible for ITINs include individuals who live abroad but owe taxes in the United States, as well as both undocumented immigrants and some immigrants with legal authorization to live in the U.S. Under the change being floated by the Trump administration, the IRS would be required to differentiate between undocumented immigrants applying for ITINs and other categories of eligible people, meaning applicants would potentially have to explicitly disclose their immigration status when applying.
Experts warn of dangers of this plan for undocumented immigrants and for U.S. tax revenue. As Professor Austin Kocher of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University noted in a series of social media posts, the changes “could force people to disclose immigration status or disengage from the tax system entirely.”
A number of undocumented immigrants, wary of disclosing their status to the federal government, may stop paying taxes by failing to file returns or shifting to under-the-table jobs. As Kocher continues, “Undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022, per the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. If ITIN access narrows, the government likely collects less revenue, not more.”
Forcing status disclosures and restricting financial access for undocumented immigrants
The idea that undocumented immigrants would be deterred from the tax system is based on real concerns. In 2025, the Trump administration attempted to force the IRS to share data on undocumented tax filers, including their addresses, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of facilitating deportations; a federal court blocked the plan. Trump has also repeatedly sought to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census, a move that was blocked by the Supreme Court ahead of the 2020 census. Adding a question would likely lead to an undercount of undocumented people, experts warn. It would also leave those in the U.S. without authorization to make a difficult choice: answer truthfully and potentially expose their undocumented status to the federal government, refuse to participate in the census or give false answers to census-takers; the latter two options are technically federal crimes,, though penalties are rarely enforced.
Likewise, the current proposed ITIN change at the IRS could push undocumented immigrants to disclose their status to the agency amid prior efforts by the Trump administration to hand that information over to ICE, or it could push unauthorized workers to commit tax evasion offenses. Republicans have also pushed various other restrictions on the abilities of both authorized and unauthorized immigrants to work and conduct financial transactions. In October, the Department of Homeland Security added red tape to the ability of hundreds of thousands of authorized immigrants to maintain their ability to legally work in the United States. Trump administration officials and Republicans on Capitol Hill have also proposed new rules requiring banks and credit unions to verify the citizenship status of their customers.
It is unclear whether the Trump administration will successfully push through the potential ITIN change. Past efforts to leverage the IRS and other federal agencies like the Census Bureau for immigration enforcement policies have been resisted by the courts and by professionals who work in these fields. Nevertheless, the proposed changes demonstrate the extent to which the Trump administration is determined to advance its harsh immigration agenda.