A federal judge has denied a request by immigrant-rights groups to block the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from sharing taxpayer information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to locate illegal immigrants subject to deportation.
US District Judge Dabney Friedrich issued the ruling in a case brought against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the IRS, and Internal Revenue Commissioner Melanie Krause. The lawsuit sought to prevent the IRS from providing personal taxpayer data to DHS for immigration enforcement purposes.
“At its core, this case presents a narrow legal issue: Does the Memorandum of Understanding between the IRS and DHS violate the Internal Revenue Code? It does not,” Judge Friedrich wrote in the order.
The decision stems from a deal reached in April that allows DHS to request address confirmations from the IRS for individuals suspected of violating deportation orders. While IRS regulations prohibit the release of information for civil matters such as deportation proceedings, the judge determined that the agreement does not currently violate the law because it is limited to criminal investigations.
“The Court agrees that requesting and receiving information for civil enforcement purposes would constitute a cognizable injury, but none of the organizations have established that such an injury is imminent,” Judge Friedrich noted. “As the plaintiffs acknowledge, the Memorandum only allows sharing information for criminal investigations.”
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs at DHS, praised the decision in a statement to Fox News, saying that information sharing across federal agencies in order to identify illegal immigrants is necessary to “determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, as well as identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense.”
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the government is finally doing what it should have all along—sharing information across the federal government to solve problems,” McLaughlin said. “Biden not only allowed millions of illegal aliens—including gang members, suspected terrorists, and violent criminals—to flood into our country, but he also lost them due to incompetence and improper processing.”
“Information sharing across agencies is essential to identify who is in our country and determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, as well as identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense,” she continued. “Today’s ruling is a victory for the American people and for commonsense.”
