Kristi Noem asks the IRS to help with Trump immigration crackdown
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is asking the Internal Revenue Service for help in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Noem made the request to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a letter last week, saying she needed their help to comply with a Trump executive order on border security.
The order told the department to "take all appropriate action" to supplement its current workers to "secure the southern border and enforce immigration laws." Noem said they are already receiving help from the Department Justice, the Texas National Guard, and the Texas Attorney General's office.
The IRS has a criminal investigation division of 3,000 people that serves as the agency's law enforcement arm and includes about 2,100 special agents who investigate financial crimes like tax fraud and money laundering.
Noem wrote that her department needed help investigating companies that employ unauthorized immigrants, dismantling financial networks that support human smuggling organizations, and seizing assets tied to immigration-related offenses. Other needs included apprehension, monitoring, detention, and removal of unauthorized immigrants.
Patrick Eddington, a senior fellow at the right-leaning think tank the Cato Institute, said it's unlikely Bessent would authorize all of his special agents to help with immigration enforcement operations, since they are not trained for that work, and there are people committing tax crimes who need to be brought to justice.
The letter was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.