A federal judge ruled Friday that the IRS likely broke the law when it agreed to share confidential taxpayer information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and she ordered the practice to halt immediately.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee serving on the federal district court in Washington, D.C., said the agreement amounted to “unlawful conduct” that violated both procedural rules and federal tax law, The Washington Times reported.
“Plaintiffs have shown that the IRS’s implementation of the Address-Sharing Policy was arbitrary and capricious because the IRS failed to recognize that it was departing from its prior policy of strict confidentiality, failed to consider the reliance interests that were engendered by its prior policy of strict confidentiality, and failed to provide a reasoned explanation for the new policy,” she wrote.
ICE sought access to IRS data to help locate illegal immigrants who were targets of enforcement operations.
Documents revealed in the case show the agency initially requested information on more than 7 million IRS taxpayers.
That request was later narrowed to 1.28 million “immigrant taxpayers,” the judge said.
At least 47,000 records were ultimately provided.
The IRS denied ICE’s original request but agreed to cooperate after the agency reduced its scope to the 1.28 million people and claimed they were all under investigation for the criminal offense of remaining in the U.S. more than 90 days after being ordered deported.
Federal law allows the IRS to share certain information for criminal investigations under limited exceptions.
Judge Kollar-Kotelly said ICE’s claim was questionable, noting that the agency represented that one individual was “personally and directly engaged” in all 1.28 million investigations.
She said the IRS never offered a “reasoned explanation” for approving the new policy, which she ruled violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
“ICE’s June 27 request failed to provide a specific reason or reasons why the taxpayer information it requested was relevant to the criminal investigations or proceedings it was conducting,” she wrote.
The Washington Times has asked the IRS and ICE for comment.
The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Taxpayer Rights, which argued that some of its members’ confidential information may have been given to ICE.
The judge agreed the center likely suffered harm and noted a decline in individuals seeking free tax assistance, giving the organization standing to sue.
It is the most recent in a long line of terrible decisions from activist judges.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, a Biden appointee, ruled Wednesday in favor of attorneys from the National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, who argued that more than 3,000 people had been arrested between June and October during “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Under the order, 615 detainees must be granted bond by noon on November 21. The ruling applies to individuals not subject to mandatory detention and who are not considered significant security threats, the report said.
“They’re all being awarded bond for 615, but how is that process going to happen?” said Mark Fleming, an attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, during a news conference on Wednesday.
He told CNN that those who were ordered released “are probably all over the country” and would need to be located.
According to a Wednesday news release from the National Immigrant Justice Center, those detained were taken into custody by ICE agents in the Chicago area between June 11 and October 7.
Fleming, who led the lawsuit alleging that federal agents violated a 2022 settlement agreement prohibiting warrantless arrests in the region, said the organization believes at least 1,100 of the 3,000 individuals arrested have since voluntarily left the country, stating they “gave up” on fighting their cases.
In response to the ruling, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the decision “puts the lives of Americans at risk.”
