A federal judge in Washington on Friday issued an order blocking the IRS fromsharing taxpayer informationwith U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, finding the practice is "unlawful."
The court "concludes that the Plaintiffs have shown a substantial likelihood that the IRS's adoption of the Address-Sharing Policy and the IRS's subsequent sharing of taxpayer information with ICE were unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a 94-pageruling.
"Furthermore, Plaintiffs have shown that the IRS's disclosure of confidential taxpayer address information to ICE was contrary to law because it violated several provisions of Internal Revenue Code," the judge wrote.
The order indicated that the IRS disclosed in early August information about nearly 47,000 taxpayers.
The Treasury Department and IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night.
The order paused the policy that established the sharing of taxpayer data pending further review, and preliminarily enjoined the IRS, the Treasury Department, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from sharing any tax return information with the Department of Homeland Security, though the judge listed some exceptions with judicial approval.
Six people have held the lead role at the agency so far this year, with Bessent stepping up as the latest acting commissioner afterTrump removed Billy Long in August.
Other agencies in the administration have agreed to share information to aid immigration enforcement. The Department of Health and Human Services ina memo Fridaysaid that it intends to share data with ICE to aid the administration's efforts to root out undocumented immigrants.
