Amid an apparent dispute about DHS seeking Internal Revenue Service data for immigration enforcement, Billy Long is out as IRS commissioner. Long, who famously had no relevant experience before being named (and wanted to abolish the agency prior), reportedly resisted attempts by Trump associates to exploit IRS data in their quest to abduct and deport as many migrants as possible.
Writing a recap of Rachel Maddow’s coverage for MSNBC, Allison Detzel noted Kristi Noem‘s DHS was keen to get private-taxpayer data to help “supercharge” detentions.
Maddow referenced reporting from The Washington Post in April, that detailed Trump’s plan to use the IRS in the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to find and arrest immigrants. ‘Homeland Security told the IRS to go into private tax information and hand over not just names, but home addresses and phone numbers and email addresses—all this specific private information—so Homeland Security could use that information to go find people and arrest them,’ Maddow explained, citing the Post’s reporting. Lawyers and career employees at the agency resisted the effort. The New York Times later reported that several IRS officials resigned because of the push.
via Allison Detzel for MSNBC
At issue was a demand—nominally from DHS, but also with active involvement of Trump’s close associates—for private records corresponding to approximately 40,000 taxpayers. IRS only returned a fraction of responsive documents.
DHS sent the IRS last week a list of 40,000 people it wanted personal information about from tax documents. The IRS reportedly responded by sending back only some of the information, about 3% of what was requested. White House officials then asked for more identifying information, according to the Post, specifically about whether anyone on that list had taken advantage of a particular tax credit. The IRS refused to give that information, citing taxpayer privacy rights.
via Allison Detzel for MSNBC
If you remove Long from the equation, Rachel Maddow argued, what’s left is a disturbing attempt to exploit (what used to be) the protected data of private citizens.
If you put him aside, what remains is this very clear understanding we have now, which is that the U.S. government is now using sensitive, private information from people’s taxes, including names and addresses and phone numbers, to help Trump’s immigration police track people down and arrest them
She concluded by noting that Richard Nixon also tried to weaponize IRS, separate and apart from other transgressions leading to his resignation. “That is now where Trump has taken this country,” she added.
According to Axios, all immigrants in the United States (numbering close to 50 million) paid nearly $652 billion in taxes in 2023. In the same period, undocumented immigrants paid nearly $90 billion of that total.
For his part, Billy Long was shoveled off by Trump to be ambassador to Iceland, for which he also has no relevant experience.
AUTHOR FOOTNOTE
My long question is this: WHY would Donald keep Billy Long in his (presumably) good graces after he “crossed” the big boss? Could it be Mr. Billy has a certain amount of, shall we say, “institutional mob knowledge” that Donald wants to keep under wraps?
Should raise everyone’s eyebrows that Billy Long, a loudmouth auctioneer, has chosen to remain largely silent on the matter. Watch this space.
