A crowd of immigrants and immigrant rights advocates gathered on the steps of San Francisco City Hall on Tuesday to condemn the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Internal Revenue Service’s agreement to share private taxpayer information with each other.
One San Francisco supervisor who attended the rally also introduced a resolution at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to reaffirm the city’s commitment to oppose developing a registry that gathers information on residents’ national origin and religion.
Last week, it was announced that ICE signed a memorandum of understanding with the IRS, allowing ICE to request private information of taxpayers accused of being in the U.S. Unlawfully.
Representatives from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, immigrant rights groups, and several San Francisco supervisors spoke out at Tuesday’s rally on Tax Day to reaffirm the city’s commitment to protecting undocumented migrants and oppose the MOU between the two federal agencies.
“On what should be an extremely normal day on our calendar, Tax Day, April 15, is instead now a sense of stress, anxiety and consternation for the communities that make up the backbone of our city,” San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said in a speech.
“Now our hardworking, taxpaying residents are being put at risk for contributing to the economic prosperity and social fabric of our country,” Mahmood said.
Fear of filing
Since 1996, undocumented immigrants and U.S. workers without Social Security numbers have been able to pay taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
Immigrant rights advocates argue that the agreement allowing the IRS to provide information of certain taxpayers to ICE has caused many undocumented immigrants to hesitate filing taxes this year out of fear of facing deportation.
Furthermore, the potential for less immigrants filing taxes could result in a significant revenue loss for federal, state and local governments.
In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes to federal, state and local governments. In California, undocumented workers raised $8.5 billion from paying taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, an organization that researches and analyzes tax policies.
“Over a million undocumented immigrants contribute to our economy and communities … They’re contributing to their community, not signing up to be surveilled, targeted or deported.”
Emma Hare, San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee
“Throughout California, this could have devastating consequences,” said Emma Hare, vice chair for the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee. “Over a million undocumented immigrants contribute to our economy and communities … They’re contributing to their community, not signing up to be surveilled, targeted or deported.”
Musa Tariq, a policy coordinator for the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was one of the many speakers who fired up the crowd. He criticized the inconsistency of the federal government requiring nearly all working residents to file their taxes while also trying to access private information of certain taxpayers for the purpose of deportation.
“The IRS agreeing to share confidential tax data with ICE breaks the promise made to undocumented immigrants who file in good faith,” Tariq said. “They tell people to contribute, to follow the rules and then use their trust to hunt them down.
“It feels like we’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t,” Hare said.
Immigrant advocate: ‘Learn about your rights’
Sarah Souza, who was recently appointed chair of the city’s Immigrant Rights Commission, emphasized that undocumented immigrants should still file their taxes.
“Be informed, learn about your rights, and have a red card,” Souza said in an interview.
“Red cards” are small cards containing written information in various languages, providing directions for undocumented immigrants who encounter immigration authorities.
Souza also encourages immigrants to visit the city’s Immigrant Services and Resources website for more information and access to resources like legal advice.
Tax day is normally just another day. But these are not normal times. On this Tax Day, the Board of Supervisors, labor groups, and immigrant rights activists came together to reject the IRS sharing confidential taxpayer data with ICE and stand in support of our immigrant… pic.twitter.com/GWkruzhZDv
— Bilal Mahmood 馬百樂 (@bilalmahmood) April 15, 2025
After the rally, Mahmood introduced a resolution at the Board of Supervisors meeting to reaffirm the city’s Non-Cooperation with Identity-Based Registry Ordinance that was signed into law in 2017 by former mayor Ed Lee after President Donald Trump introduced a ban on people entering the U.S. from certain countries with a high Muslim population.
The ordinance stopped the creation of registries documenting the national origin, ethnicity and religious background of San Francisco residents.
With the recent rise in executive orders and actions from the federal government targeting immigrants, Mahmood and many other supervisors who cosponsored the resolution see that it is imperative to solidify the city’s stance against creating identity-based databases.
“To the immigrants of our community and our city: We see you, we stand with you, and we will continue to fight for you today and always,” Mahmood said at the rally.
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