Appeals Court Allows ICE to Access Taxpayer Data

A federal appeals court has allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to access taxpayer information.

In a 3–0 decision on Feb. 24, the court unanimously disagreed with several nonprofit organizations’ argument that ICE violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop regulations.

Judge Harry Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, who wrote the opinion for the court, said ICE did not engage in the type of final action subject to the act and that the agency otherwise followed federal restrictions on data sharing.

“Furthermore, if we find, as we do, that the ‘best reading’ of the statute does not support Appellants’ position, then no agency action may countermand the court’s judgment,” the judge wrote in the ruling.

The court also cited a “straightforward” and “crystal clear” statute that outlines when it is acceptable for the IRS to disclose tax return information.

“[The statute’s] text unambiguously authorizes IRS to disclose taxpayer address information,” Edwards wrote.

“This statutory text alone is enough to resolve this case. Appellants urge us to depart from the text of the statute. We decline the invitation because we find no merit in their arguments.”

Under the statute, a request for tax return information must come from the head of a federal agency, the agency inspector general, or Department of Justice officials.

The request must also have a specific reason for why the information is relevant.

Only if all requirements are met under the statute can the IRS disclose information.

“There are no special limitations on IRS’s handling of addresses,” the judge wrote. “When the statute’s language is plain, the sole function of the courts is to enforce it according to its terms.”

The decision focused on whether the nonprofits, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and others, were entitled to the preliminary injunctive relief sought for preventing ICE–IRS data sharing.

It came after a lower court in Washington denied the groups’ request.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did the plaintiff groups.

In the lawsuit, the nonprofits also argued the IRS’s actions in data sharing with ICE were arbitrary and capricious, but the federal appeals court rejected this argument, citing an agreement between the IRS and DHS in April 2025 that outlined procedures on data sharing.

“IRS agreed to review each ICE request for completeness and validity,” the appeals court said.

“If the statutory requirements are satisfied, IRS will search for the last known address for each individual in the request and provide that address to ICE.”

Both the IRS and DHS had agreed that if ICE’s requests for taxpayer addresses were invalid or unsatisfactory, the IRS would not give up the information.

In March 2025, the appellants filed a temporary restraining order in a district court on the IRS’s sharing of taxpayers’ addresses with ICE.

That initial request was denied. The groups then moved for a preliminary injunction, which was denied.

The activist and nonprofit groups then sought the federal appeals court’s review.

ICE’s use of taxpayer information has not only been met with legal challenges; in June 2025, the agency’s request for records on 7.6 million people was denied by the IRS because it did not meet disclosure requirements.

Another request, just weeks later, for records on 7.3 million people was also rejected.

On June 27, ICE requested records for 1.2 million people. The IRS returned information on about 47,000 noncitizen taxpayers.

Multiple other lawsuits have been filed to prevent the revenue service from sharing information with ICE.

In one such instance, a Massachusetts federal judge on Feb. 5 blocked DHS from using taxpayer data for immigration enforcement purposes.

The preliminary injunction in this case will remain in effect as litigation plays out in court.