A federal judge, appointed by President Donald Trump, has approved a collaboration between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) to assist ICE in locating undocumented individuals in the U.S. through tax information.
Recently, the IRS and ICE finalized a deal that allows ICE agents to request tax data concerning undocumented immigrants. This arrangement enables ICE to provide the IRS with information regarding individuals who have been deported.
IRS officials can then relay this information about undocumented individuals.
This comprehensive lawsuit was filed by the left-leaning non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, Immigration Solidarity DuPage, Somos Un Pueblo Unido, and the city against the Treasury Department in a bid to halt IRS and ICE transactions.
On Monday evening, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich determined that the IRS and ICE’s collaboration does not breach the Internal Revenue Act, thus rejecting the request for a temporary injunction.
“This case fundamentally raises a specific legal question: Does the agreement between the IRS and the DHS contravene the Internal Revenue Act?” Friedrich states.
The explicit wording of 26USC §6103(i)(2) necessitates disclosure under the defined circumstances outlined in the Memorandum. Consequently, the plaintiffs did not demonstrate a likelihood of success in their claims. Thus, the request for a provisional injunction is denied. [Emphasis added]
The case is Centro de Trabajadores Unidos v. Bessent no. 25-CV-0677 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
