By Kevin Liptak

(CNN) — The IRS is close to finalizing an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to help locate migrants suspected of being in the US illegally, a person familiar with the matter said, as President Donald Trump continues his hardline deportation push.

The agreement would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit names and addresses of people it suspects of living in the country illegally to the IRS, which the tax agency would then cross-reference and confirm, the person said.

Tax information has generally been closely held within the IRS, and laws prohibit improper disclosure of taxpayer information. The IRS has encouraged undocumented migrants to file taxes, a process that includes providing the agency with their addresses, employers and earnings.

CNN reported earlier this year that DHS had circulated a draft memo to the IRS that represented a sweeping request for information about suspected undocumented immigrants, including the home addresses of several hundred thousand individuals who paid federal taxes based on their individual taxpayer identification numbers, according to a source with direct knowledge of the document.

Privacy experts say that would be a violation of the strict disclosure laws that the IRS operates under which prohibit the release of tax information by an IRS employee.

The draft the person described Sunday appears to be a narrower version of the earlier draft. Under the current iteration, the IRS would confirm migrants’ addresses rather than provide the information to ICE.

Still, it would amount to a major shift by the agency. Requests would need to be submitted by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem or acting ICE director Todd Lyons, and must include the name and address of the taxpayer, and the date of their removal order, which would allow the IRS to confirm the information.

Two immigrant rights groups in Chicago sued the Treasury Department and IRS earlier this month and asked a judge to block the agency from sharing taxpayers’ identifying information with ICE or DHS, as Trump pushes for more deportations.

The groups claimed federal law “forbids” the IRS from giving this data to immigration authorities, because ICE and DHS aren’t listed as exceptions to the confidentiality rules in the tax code.

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