By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
(CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security is seeking to gain access to a trove of federal information that is intended to support the collection of child support payments but could potentially be used for immigration enforcement purposes, according to three sources familiar with the talks who describe the move as unprecedented.
The data — which includes both information on people who pay child support and employment information for a much wider universe of people — is stored within the Health and Human Services Department and is used to collect child support payments. The request has prompted concerns among current and former HHS officials over whether Homeland Security would use legally restricted information that has historically been legally restricted for the administration’s immigration crackdown — and, in turn, sow distrust in a critical program.
It’s only the latest in a series of attempts by the Trump administration to use data stored in various federal agencies to potentially find undocumented immigrants residing in the United States.
Last year, for example, the Internal Revenue Service began sharing sensitive taxpayer data with immigration authorities to assist the search for undocumented immigrants. A federal judge blocked that information sharing late last year, ruling that it violated taxpayer privacy laws, but the administration is appealing.
Sources told CNN that DHS has requested access to the Federal Parent Locator Service, which is a set of databases at HHS that includes sensitive information on millions of Americans for the purpose of child support payment collection. One of those databases is the National Directory of New Hires, which contains employment details even for people with no nexus to child support though their information is eventually wiped.
“For the (National Directory of New Hires), it’s a general population database of all US workers in the country whether or not they have anything to do with child support,” said Vicki Turetsky, who served as commissioner of HHS’ child support enforcement from 2009 to 2016. “All American workers would have their data exposed through the NDNH should DHS get ahold of it.”
While immigration status is not included in the data collection, it could be inferred by who does or doesn’t have a social security number. Undocumented immigrants can receive child support because it’s not a public benefit, nor paid by the taxpayer.
The White House referred CNN to DHS and HHS, which have not responded to requests for comment. ProPublica earlier reported on the request by DHS.
Multiple sources told CNN that the DHS request would likely be in violation of federal law, which explicitly states how the information is handled and who is authorized to do so. DHS is not an authorized user and immigration enforcement is not an authorized use, according to former HHS officials.
It’s unclear whether DHS will succeed in accessing the databases.
The IRS-ICE collaboration, meanwhile, was troubled from the start. ICE requested address information last year for nearly 1.3 million suspected undocumented immigrants but only got data from the IRS for about 47,000 taxpayers. And the IRS acknowledged in court last month that it made a mistake and shouldn’t have turned over data for approximately 2,000 of those taxpayers.
Last year, Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Shel