Kristi Noem Wants IRS Agents to Help Deport Migrants Out of US

The Department of Homeland Security has asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to deputize IRS criminal investigators so they aid with immigration crackdown efforts, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The outlet detailed that a memo sent last week by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem requested agents to help investigate flows of funds involving smuggling rings and businesses that hire undocumented immigrants. The agents could also help arrest, detain and deport people, the document added.

IRS criminal investigators are law-enforcement officers authorized to make arrests and often carry firearms, unlike the agency's revenue agents and revenue officers. They usually investigate financial crimes and work alongside the FBI and other agencies. Their cases have included fentanyl trafficking and fraud involving government programs.

The Trump administration is seeking for officials from different agencies across the government to help with its intended largest deportation operation in American history. Shortly after the new term began, DHS granted immigration enforcement authorities to several agencies at the Justice Department, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service.

The order directs the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State to "take all necessary action to immediately repel, repatriate and remove illegal aliens across the southern border of the United States."

Other administrations across the country are voluntarily directing officials to help with the administration's efforts. Among them is Texas, whose National Guard members have been granted "the power of immigration officials" to make arrests" and "exercise all the duties of an immigration agents."

Governor Greg Abbott has already ordered state agencies to assist with President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts in a series of executive orders. The Republican governor and fierce Trump ally signed in late January five other executive orders, all relating to immigration and the need to collaborate with the Trump administration.

Abbott said he ordered state agencies to work with their federal counterparts to "investigate, arrest, detain, and deport illegal immigrants in Texas." The orders also direct state agencies to assist federal agents in securing the U.S.-Mexico border, share intelligence information on drug cartels with federal law enforcement and work with the federal government to "deploy any physical infrastructure to improve operational security at the southern border."

Another order is directed at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Facilities Commission to earmark land and facilities that can be used for detention and deportation for immigrants who are believed to be in the United States unlawfully.