Elon Musk’s government watchdog agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is helping to build a massive deportation database by pulling private data from across the federal government — including the IRS, according to CNN.
The project is aimed at speeding up immigration enforcement and deportations. Citing multiple sources familiar with the plans, CNN reports that staffers under DOGE are assembling a centralized system using personal information from the IRS, Social Security Administration, and Health and Human Services. The idea is to remove barriers and allow easier access to data for agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“If they are designing a deportation machine, they will be able to do that,” a former senior IRS official told the news network.
A big player in this operation? Palantir — a Silicon Valley data firm co-founded by Musk ally Peter Thiel. Known for working with ICE in the past, Palantir is now tasked with building this new system. According to CNN, the new database is expected to go further than ever before, targeting people with even civil immigration violations.
“They’re going to take the information we already have and put it into a system,” a Trump administration official said. “It will be able to rapidly queue information. Everyone is converting to Palantir.”
Palantir’s tools are already used by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to track and arrest undocumented migrants. One federal contract describes its services as covering “streamlining selection and apprehension operations of illegal aliens,” and tracking for self-deportation.
A major part of the plan involves “targeting lists” — digital profiles that help ICE agents find and detain people more quickly. But sources admitted that those lists have often been riddled with errors, raising concerns about wrongful arrests.
Some Trump officials see this new data hub as the fix to that problem. But others — including former DHS insiders — are warning it may not be as powerful as it sounds. “It’s still only as good as the data,” one former Homeland Security official told CNN. He added that many undocumented people aren’t even eligible for removal yet, making enforcement more complicated than just identifying names.
Meanwhile, DOGE’s aggressive push into IRS data has triggered internal clashes and legal alarms. DOGE officials reportedly forced through a data-sharing deal between the IRS and ICE, despite strong objections from IRS leadership. One former employee described it as a “hostile takeover.”
So far, there’s no official word that taxpayer data has started flowing to DHS. The Treasury Department has denied any misuse of IRS information, telling CNN, “The implication that taxpayer information is being inappropriately shared across government agencies is not only incorrect but dangerous.”
DOGE’s rapid data-mining operation is now facing lawsuits from immigration advocates and government employee unions who say it crosses legal lines and violates privacy.
Lawmakers are also sounding the alarm. One Democratic member of Congress accused DOGE of “rapidly, haphazardly, and unlawfully” exploiting Americans’ personal data.
The effort appears to have full support from Trump. In an interview with Time Magazine published Friday, Trump said the database was being built “because we want to find waste, fraud, and abuse, and want to cut our costs.” When asked if it would be used to round up undocumented immigrants, he replied: “Not that I know of, no.”
Still, the paper trail says otherwise. A document posted in the Federal Register outlines ICE’s goal for Palantir to handle “end to end immigration lifecycle from identification to removal,” including deportation logistics.
DOGE has made inter-agency data sharing a top priority. Trump signed an executive order in March directing agencies to remove “unnecessary barriers” that prevent sharing data between departments.
At a recent strategy session in Washington, Palantir reps were seen alongside DOGE officials and top IRS tech personnel. According to CNN, the official story was that it was about improving IRS efficiency. But behind the scenes, the focus was clearly immigration.
DOGE’s moves are being described by critics as a digital dragnet — and one that could reshape immigration enforcement in America by turning the federal government’s own records into a weapon of mass deportation.
