Judge refuses to block IRS from sharing tax data to identify and deport people illegally in U.S.
May 12, 2025, 2:45 PM
FILE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers use a chain to more comfortably restrain a detained person using handcuffs positioned in front, Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
A federal judge on Monday refused to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S.
In a win for the Trump administration, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich denied a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups. They argued that undocumented immigrants who pay taxes are entitled to the same privacy protections as U.S. citizens and immigrants who are legally in the country.
Friedrich, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, had previously refused to grant a temporary order in the case.
The decision comes less than a month after former acting IRS commissioner Melanie Krause resigned over the deal allowing ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records.
