IRS illegally shared taxpayers data with ICE, including addresses, judge finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has found that the Internal Revenue Service violated federal law by disclosing confidential taxpayer information to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nearly 43,000 times — a finding that has deepened anxiety across immigrant communities, including the Haitian diaspora.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said Thursday she found out that the IRS unlawfully shared “approximately 42,695” last known taxpayer addresses with ICE. The disclosures occurred under a controversial data-sharing agreement between the IRS and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, allowing immigration authorities to request names and addresses for cross-verification in order to identify and deport undocumented immigrants.

For some newly-arriving Haitian immigrants, many of whom file taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to help adjust their status, the ruling strikes at a core belief: that paying taxes demonstrates good faith, good morals and civic participation in the United States.

A breach of trust

Kollar-Kotelly found that the IRS violated Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, one of the strictest taxpayer confidentiality laws in federal statute. In her decision, she wrote that the agency failed to ensure ICE’s requests met statutory requirements before disclosing confidential addresses.

“The IRS not only failed to ensure that ICE’s request for confidential taxpayer address information met the statutory requirements, but this failure led the IRS to disclose confidential taxpayer addresses to ICE in situations where ICE’s request for that information was patently deficient,” she wrote.

The judge’s ruling relied on a sworn declaration by the IRS’ chief risk and control officer, who acknowledged the agency provided information on roughly 47,000 of the 1.28 million individuals ICE requested. In most of those cases, additional address information was shared in violation of federal privacy protections.

Nina Olson, founder of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, which sued the government over the agreement, said the judge’s finding confirms longstanding concerns.

“This confirms what we’ve been saying all along: that the IRS has an unlawful policy that violates the Internal Revenue Code’s protections by releasing these addresses in a way that violates the law’s requirements,” Olson said.

The federal government is appealing the case.

What it means for the Haitian diaspora

The decision reverberates beyond Washington courtrooms. Across cities such as New York, Miami and Boston — home to large Haitian American populations — community advocates say the ruling validates fears that tax compliance could be weaponized against immigrants.

For years, immigration attorneys and community organizations have urged undocumented immigrants to file taxes, even without legal status, to build a paper trail demonstrating residency, employment history and moral character. Filing taxes can strengthen applications for asylum, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), family petitions and other immigration programs.

But the revelation that the IRS shared confidential addresses thousands of times risks chilling that participation. In a moment when many Haitian families are navigating asylum claims, TPS termination debates and broader uncertainty in U.S. immigration policy, the court’s finding reinforces a central question: Can immigrants trust the institutions they are asked to comply with? Without firm protections, they warn, fear will continue to drive people into the shadows.

“If immigrants believe filing taxes exposes them to enforcement, many will stop filing altogether,” said a Brooklyn-based immigration attorney who works closely with Haitian asylum seekers. 

“That harms families, undermines local economies and erodes trust in government institutions,” said the attorney, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.

In an era where heightened immigration control has led to workplace raids, home visits and growing uncertainty about legal protections, the idea that tax records — long considered confidential — could facilitate deportation efforts raises additional safety concerns. Advocates worry that such data-sharing could expose home addresses to enforcement operations, increasing the risk of detentions in front of children and family members.

Ongoing legal battles

The IRS-DHS agreement was signed last April by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The deal prompted the then-acting IRS commissioner to resign amid internal disagreement.

Several lawsuits challenging the agreement remain active.

Earlier this week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to issue a preliminary injunction sought by the immigrants’ rights group Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and other nonprofits attempting to block implementation of the agreement.

Judge Harry T. Edwards wrote that the groups were “unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim,” concluding that some of the information shared may not fall under IRS privacy statutes.

Still, two separate court orders continue to block large-scale transfers of taxpayer data and prohibit ICE from acting on certain IRS information already in its possession. Those injunctions remain in place while litigation proceeds.

A fragile moment for trust

For the Haitian Diaspora, the case underscores a fragile reality: participation in civic systems — paying taxes, working legally where possible, building community ties — does not always shield immigrants from enforcement.

That answer, advocates say, will shape not only tax compliance but the civic engagement of immigrant communities nationwide. 

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