The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected an effort by an immigrant rights group to temporarily halt an agreement that lets the Internal Revenue Service share certain taxpayer data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a move that could help ICE identify people the government says are in the country illegally.
The three-judge panel turned down the request for a preliminary injunction filed by Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and other nonprofits challenging the data-sharing agreement signed last April by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Under the agreement, ICE can submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the United States it says are illegally present to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records. The administration has said the arrangement supports broader border enforcement efforts.
Writing for the panel, Judge Harry T. Edwards said the nonprofits were “unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim,” according to the court’s reasoning as described in the Associated Press report. Edwards said the agencies’ information-sharing was unlikely to be covered by the IRS privacy statute the groups were invoking.
A representative for Centro de Trabajadores Unidos did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the report said.
The Trump administration has argued the agreement helps carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, including steps described as part of a nationwide immigration crackdown that has included deportations and workplace raids. The AP report also said the deal was sufficiently contentious that the acting commissioner of the IRS resigned last year over the arrangement.
The litigation also drew attention to alleged errors involving the government’s handling of taxpayer data. Earlier this month, court filings revealed that the IRS had erroneously shared the taxpayer information of thousands of people with the Department of Homeland Security as part of the agreement.
A declaration filed by IRS Chief Risk and Control Officer Dottie Romo said the IRS was able to verify roughly 47,000 of the 1.28 million names ICE requested, the AP report stated. For less than 5% of those individuals, the IRS provided additional address information to ICE, which the nonprofits’ challenge raised as potentially violating privacy rules intended to protect taxpayer data.
Outside the courtroom, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media that the decision was a “crucial victory” for the administration. Bondi, according to the report, added: “Deporting illegal aliens makes the American people safer.”