Court panel debates legality of IRS data handover to ICE for mass removals
Federal judges are reviewing the Trump administration’s request that the IRS provide non-citizen taxpayers’ addresses to ICE for large-scale deportations.
In a hearing before the First Circuit, the Department of Homeland Security asked judges to reverse a February order that halted a memorandum allowing the Internal Revenue Service to supply ICE with the home addresses of non-citizen taxpayers. The administration claims the data is needed to “identify, exclude, or remove” illegal aliens, but the court highlighted that federal law only permits such disclosures when a taxpayer is under a bona-fide criminal investigation.
Judges probed the definition of that exception after ICE obtained the addresses of 47,000 individuals last year, noting many had already exceeded the 90-day removal grace period. Representatives for the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts and the Asian Law Caucus stressed that the policy deters immigrants from filing taxes and attending community events, and that the statute requires a “meaningful” investigation affecting far fewer people.
The panel also referenced a separate D.C. Circuit ruling that found the IRS-ICE agreement unlawful. No decision on the case’s fate was announced.
Why it matters
The ruling will shape whether tax records can be used to expand deportations, impacting immigrant privacy and civic participation.
How this story developed
- Aug 13 San Antonio immigrants live in constant fear as ICE arrests surge
- Sep 1 ICE carried out a raid in Memphis that arrested more than 100 people, the largest raid in the city’s history.
- Sep 11 A judge dismissed the deportation case against the Andhra Pradesh woman, yet ICE continued to require her reporting.
- Sep 17 ICE agent Christian Castro turned himself in to Minnesota authorities on a warrant for assault after shooting a Venezuelan man, and faces both state and federal charges.
- Sep 18 Castro entered a not‑guilty plea to the federal false‑statement charges.
- Sep 20 A man was wounded after being shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in North Austin, Texas, and taken to a local hospital.
- Sep 27 A federal judge scheduled a personal appearance for the man on September 30 and issued a temporary order halting his deportation.
- Sep 29 The U.S. Supreme Court granted the Justice Department’s emergency request, letting the Trump administration continue deporting migrants to third countries while the policy’s legality is examined.
- Sep 30 Supreme Court issued an emergency order allowing third‑country deportations to continue.
- Sep 30 An immigration judge ruled that Salah Sarsour, head of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, can be deported on national-security grounds despite his claim that the case targets his Palestinian-rights advocacy.
- Sep 30 The Justice Department lodged complaints with the 8th Circuit alleging that Minnesota federal judges made partisan statements about a Trump-era deportation surge.
- Oct 1 A federal indictment charging Garces Perez with assault was filed.
- Oct 3 The filing requests that the judges be barred from hearing Department of Homeland Security cases.
- Oct 3 A Chicago immigration judge allowed a possible deportation of Salah Sarsour.
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