Scott Bessent is attempting to create a deal between the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS to share tax records with immigration agents.
Posted by Bulwark Takes, Checked
- Sources
- 4 contradict2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
Bulwark TakesAug 21, 2026
The record shows Bessent co-signed the IRS-DHS/ICE data-sharing memorandum of understanding in April 2025, so the deal and his role in it are supported. But the claim that he is 'attempting to create' the deal as of 2026-08-21 is contradicted, since the agreement had already been signed and was under litigation and congressional scrutiny by then.
A detail. The sources confirm the gist; the verdict faults a detail such as a date, number or wording.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… Trump away from some of his worst impulses, and that is not at all what we see from Besen, not only through, like, what may well be an abuse of power in this situation, but other things, like, you know, giving Doje access to the Treasury payment system and trying to come up with this deal between DHS and the IRS to share tax records with immigration agents. Like, there are a whole bunch of really bad things that Besen has done aside from this, and that I didn't, I didn't appreciate. I guess how good we had it, how good we had it. So, anyway, people in the comments are very happy about Lego Batman. …
Bulwark Takes · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The data-sharing agreement was signed in April 2025, well before the 2026-08-21 post, so the sources do not describe Bessent as still trying to create it at that date.[1][3][4][5]
Supports. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem signed the memorandum of understanding allowing ICE to submit names and addresses to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records.[3][4][5]
Context. A February 2026 court filing showed the IRS erroneously shared data on about 47,000 of 1.28 million requested names, and a September 2026 Senate Finance letter from Wyden referred to the agreement as already reached in 2025.[1][2]
Context. The D.C. Circuit declined to halt the data sharing in February 2026, and the case was still pending as of late October 2026.[6]
Sources
6 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 primary, 1 tier 2, 3 not rated
- 1Taxpayer data wrongly shared with DHS, court filing saysapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts, context
- 2With DHS Terrorizing Communities Nationwide, Wyden Leads Democrats Demanding Answers About ICE’s Abuse of Taxpayer Data - U.S. Senate Committee On Financefinance.senate.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 3IRS will share tax information with immigration authorities - NPRnpr.org · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 4Internal Revenue Service agrees to send immigrant tax ...borderreport.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 5ICE Gets Tax Data Only in Criminal or Final Deportation Cases | NYCPAnysscpa.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 6Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, et al v. Scott Bessent, et al - Law360law360.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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