Urge Congress to Protect Sensitive Personal Data
Beginning in early 2025, the federal government has attempted to access sensitive and personal information from numerous federal, state, and local databases—including those which contain sensitive taxpayer, medical, and even public benefits information—for the purposes of immigration enforcement.
In April, we shared our concerns about how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to share the personal data—names, addresses, and phone numbers—of 700,000 residents who filed their taxes with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs)*. Since then, DHS has also attempted to access sensitive personal data from numerous other federal agencies and programs, including:
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, often known as food stamps)
- Social Security Administration (SSA)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- U.S. Education Department
- U.S. Postal Service
This is the sensitive data of our small business owners, neighbors, friends, and family.
These requests for sensitive information and data-sharing agreements (in the case of the IRS) are illegal, and set a dangerous precedent for what personal information federal agencies could continue to share with the Department of Homeland Security. At the end of the day, this impacts ALL residents of the United States. All our sensitive personal data may be at risk, and we must call on our congressmembers to do the right thing and fight to protect our personal information.
Take action today to tell your representative(s) in Congress to protect Americans’ sensitive personal data.
*Note: An ITIN is not an indication of immigration status.
