US Appeals Court Rules IRS Sharing of Taxpayer Data with ICE Was Unlawful

A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia has upheld a preliminary injunction blocking a policy from the Donald Trump administration that allowed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to share taxpayer addresses with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The court ruled that the practice violated federal law, which has protected confidential taxpayer data since the Watergate scandal. According to court documents, the IRS shared approximately 47,000 records with ICE before the policy was blocked, and the government had begun processing requests for the last known addresses of up to 1.28 million people suspected of residing illegally in the United States.

Judge Cornelia Pillard, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, stated that the IRS procedures were flagrant violations of the law because they did not require ICE to provide a taxpayer's actual address and automated the analysis of millions of records without individual evaluations. The Trump administration argued that the decision hindered the enforcement of federal law, but the court responded that such grievances should be addressed to Congress rather than the judiciary. The White House retains the option to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Legal representatives for the plaintiffs, including Democracy Forward and Public Citizen, praised the ruling for upholding privacy laws and ensuring that non citizens receive the same data protections as other taxpayers. The IRS and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.