Court orders SSA and DHS to disclose missing records on non-citizen data sharing
A Massachusetts federal court ruled that the Social Security Administration must provide a fuller administrative record to challenges over its transfer of personal data on 700,000 non-citizens to the Department of Homeland Security.
In Boston, a federal court determined that the Social Security Administration supplied an insufficient administrative record to plaintiffs contesting the agency's decision to hand over personal information on 700,000 non-citizens to the Department of Homeland Security. The missing documentation is crucial for assessing whether the SSA violated tax confidentiality rules under the Internal Revenue Code. The court ordered both the SSA and DHS to produce all relevant communications between officials regarding the data transfer, as well as any materials that illuminate DHS's involvement in evaluating the request.
This ruling seeks to ensure transparency in the handling of sensitive tax data and to inform ongoing legal challenges. The parties have been given a deadline to comply with the court's directive. The decision underscores the scrutiny of inter-agency data sharing practices affecting immigrant communities.
Why it matters
It determines if confidential tax data of hundreds of thousands of non-citizens was shared lawfully.
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