Judge Rules IRS Illegally Shared 42,695 Workers' Tax Data With ICE After DHS Address Hunt
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 3
Judge Rules IRS Illegally Shared 42,695 Workers' Tax Data With ICE After DHS Address Hunt
2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 3
Summary
A federal judge found the IRS unlawfully disclosed the last known addresses of 42,695 undocumented taxpayers to ICE, after agency lawyers had previously told the court the request had been rebuffed.
The ruling followed a Washington Post report that the IRS had shared data on about 47,000 undocumented workers, prompting the judge to question government lawyers, who then admitted the agency had in fact made the disclosure.
DHS had sought taxpayer information to help locate undocumented immigrants for deportation, targeting a data silo tied to Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers used by workers without Social Security numbers.
The report says senior IRS privacy officials had warned the transfer was plainly illegal, and chief privacy officer Kathleen Walters resigned in 2025 rather than facilitate a broader effort that at one point sought addresses for as many as 7 million people.
The case strikes at trust in a program created in 1996 that drew billions in tax payments from undocumented workers by assuring their filings would remain protected under federal privacy law.