Federal Appeals Court Rules IRS-ICE Data Sharing Policy Unlawful

09/09/2026 // Douglas Harrington // 470 Views

Tags: Administrative Procedure Act, big government, border security, Center for Taxpayer Rights, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, confidentiality, Cornelia Pillard, data sharing, DC Circuit Appeals Court, deep state, domestic terrorism, FBI corruption, federal appeals court, federal law, illegal immigration, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Code, Internal Revenue Service, invasion usa, memorandum of understanding, migrants, national security, Open Borders, police state, privacy watch, progress, Section 6103, surveillance, taxpayer addresses, taxpayer data, Trump, Tyranny



A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday, Sept. 8, that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may not disclose the addresses of individuals believed to be in the country illegally to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to court documents.A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a February district court ruling that deemed an IRS policy to share taxpayer data with immigration authorities illegal. The unanimous panel rejected arguments from the government defending the practice, which was implemented through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The policy "indisputably contravenes the requirements of section 6103," the federal law governing when the IRS can share taxpayer information, Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote for the panel. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by advocacy groups, including the Center for Taxpayer Rights (CTR), challenging the data-sharing agreement.
Background of the Data-Sharing Agreement

The legal battle began after the IRS and ICE signed an MOU in April 2025 to facilitate immigration enforcement. Under the agreement, ICE requested the last known addresses of more than one million people it believed to be unlawfully present in the United States. According to court filings, ICE did not provide an address for some individuals on its list.
Under the agreement, IRS workers sent 47,289 records to ICE before a district court halted the process, according to the ruling. The lawsuit was filed by groups including the CTR, which argued the disclosures violated federal privacy law.
In February, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the IRS had violated the law by sharing confidential taxpayer addresses with ICE approximately 42,695 times. [1] That earlier ruling described the disclosures as a significant failure of legal safeguards under IRS Code Section 6103, one of the strictest confidentiality laws in federal statute. [1]
Court's Reasoning Under Section 6103

Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code imposes strict limits on when the IRS may disclose taxpayer return information. The law permits disclosure to other federal agencies for use in criminal investigations, but it requires the head of the requesting agency to identify each taxpayer by name and address, specify the relevant tax period and explain why the information may be relevant to a specific probe.
The appeals court found that ICE failed to meet these statutory requirements. According to the ruling, ICE's requests did not include addresses for some of the 1.28 million taxpayers listed, and the agency identified the same point of contact for every request. Pillard wrote that the practice "entirely fails to ensure that ICE lists a federal employee, let alone one 'personally and directly engaged' in a qualifying investigation of a particular taxpayer."
The court also noted that while the law contains exemptions allowing disclosure without a complete address, those exemptions apply only when the IRS disclosure is to officials directly involved in a criminal proceeding concerning that specific taxpayer. The panel found that ICE's blanket request for data on millions of people did not meet that standard.
Government Arguments Rejected

Government lawyers presented three main defenses in seeking to overturn the lower court's ruling. They argued that the advocacy groups that sued lacked standing, that the MOU was not a final agency action subject to review under the Administrative Procedure Act and that the data-sharing practice did not violate federal law.
The appeals court rejected each argument. Pillard wrote that at least one of the plaintiff organizations was sufficiently injured by the policy to bring suit, and that the IRS was required to follow procedural requirements because the MOU represented a final agency policy. On the central legal question, the panel found that the failure to provide addresses as required by Section 6103 constituted a violation of federal law.
Reactions and Next Steps

CTR Executive Director Nina Olson called the ruling "a resounding victory for the protection of all taxpayers' right to the confidentiality of their tax information." The DHS, ICE's parent agency and the IRS did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
The decision affirms the district court's stay, meaning the IRS cannot continue disclosing addresses under the challenged policy. The ruling could have broader implications for future data-sharing agreements between tax collection agencies and immigration enforcement authorities, particularly as the Trump administration has sought to intensify coordination between federal agencies on immigration matters. [2] The case also highlights ongoing concerns about the confidentiality of taxpayer information held by the IRS, which has been the subject of multiple privacy controversies in recent years. [3]
References


  • NaturalNews.com. "Federal judge rules IRS illegally shared taxpayer data over 42000 times with ICE". NaturalNews.com. March 01, 2026.
  • NaturalNews.com. "IRS considers citizenship question on tax forms amid immigration enforcement push". NaturalNews.com. May 25, 2026.
  • NaturalNews.com. "IRS contractor sentenced to 5 YEARS IN PRISON for illegally leaking tax records of Trump". NaturalNews.com. January 31, 2024.

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Federal Appeals Court Rules IRS-ICE Data Sharing Policy Unlawful – NaturalNews.com