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A federal appeals court has ruled that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may continue sharing certain taxpayer information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), rejecting a bid by immigrant rights groups to halt the policy.
In a decision Tuesday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, judges declined to grant a preliminary injunction sought by plaintiffs including Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and other nonprofit organizations challenging the interagency data-sharing agreement.
Judge Harry T. Edwards denied the preliminary injunction request, stating that the nonprofit groups “are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim” because the information being shared by the agencies is not protected under the IRS privacy statute.
Why It Matters
The agreement allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit the names and addresses of individuals suspected of residing in the United States illegally to the Internal Revenue Service for cross-verification against tax records. The decision is a major win for the Trump administration as it pushes forward with it’s deportation program.
What To Know
The arrangement, signed in April 2025 by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is part of broader federal efforts to identify individuals subject to immigration enforcement and carry out removal orders.
The Trump administration has argued that the agreement facilitates immigration enforcement and supports broader border security goals.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, reacting to the appeals court decision on social media, said the outcome was a “crucial victory” for the administration.
Critics argue that sharing confidential tax information for immigration enforcement undermines long-standing privacy protections and could deter undocumented immigrants from filing tax returns. Federal law generally prohibits the disclosure of sensitive tax data except in limited circumstances.
Court filings indicate that in responding to ICE requests, the IRS was able to verify only about 47,000 of the roughly 1.28 million names submitted by ICE, and in fewer than 5 percent of those cases provided additional address information, raising concerns that privacy rules may have been violated.
What People Are Saying
Attorney General Pamela Bondi wrote in a post on X: “Today’s court decision allowing @USTreasury to share IRS data with @ICEgov is a crucial victory for President Trump’s agenda to Make America Safe Again. It also reaffirms a simple truth: laws set by Congress must be enforced, not undermined by activist judges.”
Tom Bowman, policy counsel for the Center for Democracy & Technology, said in a statement shared with Newsweek: “This privacy failure is a stark reminder of why safeguards for sensitive data are so critical. The improper sharing of taxpayer data is unsafe, unlawful, and subject to serious criminal penalties. Once taxpayer data is opened to immigration enforcement, mistakes are inevitable and the consequences fall on innocent people.”
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