According to Bloomberg, the IRS is now allowed to share taxpayer data with federal immigration officials only when cases involve immigrants who have final deportation orders or ongoing criminal investigations, according to a just-unsealed agreement between the U.S. Treasury and Homeland Security.

The 13-page memo, signed in April by Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, was released May 13 by order of a federal court in Washington, Bloomberg reported.

The agreement lets Immigration and Customs Enforcement ask for tax records under a section of the tax code that permits limited disclosures for non-tax criminal matters.

While the memo is not specific about which criminal cases are qualified, it does specify other rules. To get IRS data, ICE must give a name, address and deportation order date. It also must safeguard the information received, Bloomberg said.

The IRS sharing taxpayer data, despite being limited to certain cases, is unprecedented. It is also against the assurances that such information would not be utilized to support immigration enforcement. Former IRS Acting Commissioner Melanie Krause resigned in April upon the finalization of the data-sharing arrangement.

A federal judge on May 12 ordered the mostly redacted IRS-ICE agreement to be "almost entirely unsealed" as a response to a request from the watchdog American Oversight. The judge, in the same ruling, said no to a request from two Chicago-based immigrant advocacy groups to stop the data-sharing agreement, noting they did not have standing to go against it, Bloomberg reported. 

For the longest time, Immigrants have been told to pay income taxes regardless of their status. In 1996, the IRS created an individual taxpayer identification number for foreigners who do not qualify for a Social Security number, letting them file returns. 

In a broader initiative toward mass deportation, the Trump administration has reinstituted a World War II-era immigrant-registration system and has promised to fine and criminally charge individuals in the U,S. who do not register.

The White House has said that the data is needed to assist ICE agents confirm the presence of specific foreigners living in the U.S. illegally. A DHS spokeswoman has been defending the sharing agreement, saying that the administration is utilizing all available means to help find immigrants living in the country without permission, Bloomberg reported.