DHS pushes for IRS data to carry out mass deportations
The Trump administration asked a First Circuit panel to lift an injunction blocking an IRS-DHS agreement that let ICE obtain addresses of noncitizen taxpayers, arguing a federal judge in February wrongly found the arrangement likely violates taxpayer privacy law. The case turns on a narrow exception letting IRS data flow to agencies pursuing a criminal investigation.
Judges pressed a Justice Department attorney on how that exception applied when ICE got addresses for 47,000 people whose only qualifying fact was a final removal order, with one judge comparing the logic to treating every licensed driver as a suspect for lacking insurance. The attorney couldn't say whether passing a 90-day deadline tied to any actual criminal statute.
A plaintiffs' attorney noted ICE originally sought 1.28 million addresses, including people still inside their legal grace period, and argued a single point of contact couldn't plausibly be 'personally and directly engaged' in tens of thousands of separate criminal matters. A parallel case in the D.C. Circuit already found the same agreement violated the law thousands of times over.
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