Identifying America’s massive illegal alien population will require getting at data held by federal and local governments.

One obvious place to look is the IRS.

Senate Democrats are unhappy with the idea and claim that giving the Department of Homeland Security access to IRS data so it can search for illegal aliens is a violation of privacy measures.

“It is obvious that people will be far less likely to report sensitive personal information to the government, including details about how much money they have earned and how, if they believe that the IRS will disclose that information in violation of law,” they argue.

First, reporting data to the IRS is not optional. Second, the IRS serves a function within the government. That means it aids law enforcement in efforts to enforce the law and stop violations of it.

Privacy, when it comes to IRS data, is for people who are following the law. It’s not for criminals.

Senate Dems argue that it would “penalize individuals for complying with federal tax law and undermine the IRS’s core mission of tax collection by reducing voluntary tax compliance.”

The IRS’s core mission is the law.

“According to official government data, millions of taxpayers who do not have a social security number file their taxes with the IRS each year using an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN),7 including many undocumented individuals. Such voluntary tax compliance depends on trust that the IRS will keep taxpayer data confidential.”

While tax revenues are nice, the amount of money that illegal aliens cost far outweighs their revenues (despite claims otherwise by CATO and other pro-illegal groups), and no part of the government exists purely for its own sake. The idea that we should compartmentalize the IRS from broader policies and issues makes no sense.