DHS Looks to Deputize IRS Agents for Immigration Enforcement

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rides with Department of Homeland Security law enforcement to arrest criminal aliens in New York City on Jan. 28, 2025. U.S. Department of Homeland Security/ Tia Dufour

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is turning to an unconventional source for assistance with immigration enforcement: the IRS.

In a Feb. 7 memo obtained by The Epoch Times, Noem called on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to allow IRS officers to assist with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.

“It is DHS’s understanding that the Department of the Treasury has qualified law enforcement personnel available to assist with immigration enforcement, especially in light of recent increases to the Internal Revenue Service’s workforce and budget,” Noem wrote.

“This letter requests that you make qualified officials from the Department of the Treasury available to work with ICE and that you consent to those officials being deputized to perform immigration functions.”

Those functions include investigations, asset seizures, apprehensions, and removals, she said.

The IRS has 2,290 law enforcement officers in its criminal investigation unit, which the Biden administration controversially expanded to ramp up the agency’s prosecution of tax fraudsters. Those special agents have the authority to carry and use firearms and conduct arrests.

A Treasury Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ inquiry.

Noem’s request to shift eligible IRS officers to immigration enforcement follows President Donald Trump’s suggestion at a Las Vegas rally on Jan. 25 that he might order the reassignment of thousands of IRS agents for border security purposes.

“They hired—were trying to hire 88,000 new workers,” Trump said of the Biden administration’s plans for the agency.

“I think we’re going to move them to the border where they are allowed to carry guns. You know, they’re so strong on guns. But these people are allowed to carry guns. So we will probably move them to the border.”

The move adds to the president’s whole-of-government crackdown on illegal immigration.

Noem previously pledged to “exercise all legal authorities” as homeland security secretary to protect the United States “because it is the only last light of freedom left.” Since then, her department has ramped up its coordination with other federal agencies and departments to deliver on Trump’s top campaign promise: the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

Justice Department personnel, including agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, have already been deputized to assist with ICE operations.

Additionally, at the president’s direction, the Pentagon deployed 1,500 troops to help seal the southern border, and the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba is now housing illegal immigrants who pose a high public safety threat.

“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people,” Trump told reporters on Jan. 29. “Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back so we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo.”

Noem’s memo to Bessent coincided with her visit to Guantanamo Bay on Feb. 7 to assess the operation’s progress and meet with DHS and Defense Department personnel.

“I was just in Cuba and saw firsthand criminal aliens being unloaded off a flight at GITMO,” she wrote on social media platform X on Feb. 10.

“My message to criminal alien murderers, rapists, child predators, and gangsters: do not come to this country, or we will hunt you down, find you, and lock you up.”

Tom Ozimek and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.