Federal Court Denies Injunction Against IRS Data Sharing with ICE
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has declined to grant a preliminary injunction sought by immigrant advocacy groups to halt an agreement enabling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to share taxpayer information with immigration authorities. The court’s decision, issued on Tuesday, affects a lawsuit filed by Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and other nonprofit organizations against the federal government over a controversial data-sharing arrangement.
The disputed agreement, signed in April by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, permits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to cross-reference names and addresses of undocumented immigrants with IRS tax records. The plaintiffs had requested an injunction to temporarily stop this data exchange.
Judge Harry T. Edwards, writing on behalf of the three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, stated that the groups are “unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim,” noting that the information shared does not fall under the IRS privacy statute.
Attempts to reach a representative from Centro de Trabajadores Unidos for comment were unsuccessful.
Attorney General Pam Bondi expressed support for the court’s ruling, calling it a “crucial victory” on social media. “Deporting illegal aliens makes the American people safer,” Bondi stated.
The Trump administration maintains that this agreement is integral to fulfilling President Donald Trump’s immigration policies aimed at enhancing border security and has facilitated deportations and workplace enforcement actions.
The data-sharing deal has sparked controversy, leading to the resignation of the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service last year. Recent court documents disclosed that the IRS mistakenly provided taxpayer information for thousands of individuals to the Department of Homeland Security under the agreement.
IRS Chief Risk and Control Officer Dottie Romo filed a declaration noting that the IRS could only confirm approximately 47,000 out of 1.28 million names submitted by ICE. For fewer than 5% of these individuals, additional address data was provided, potentially breaching privacy regulations designed to protect taxpayer information.
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Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.
