A federal appeals court refused to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing certain taxpayer information with the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement, handing the Trump administration a significant legal win on Tuesday.
In a 35-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that immigrant advocacy groups failed to show they were likely to succeed in their challenge to the IRS data-sharing arrangement, affirming a lower court’s denial of a preliminary injunction.
At issue is an April memorandum of understanding between the IRS and DHS under which Immigration and Customs Enforcement has sought address information tied to roughly 1.28 million taxpayers as part of criminal investigations related to immigration enforcement. The case has tested the limits of Internal Revenue Code Section 6103, a statute that tightly restricts disclosure of taxpayer information but allows certain exceptions for law enforcement.
Writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, Senior Judge Harry T. Edwards, an appointee of former President Jimmy Carter, said the challengers’ interpretation of the law was unsupported by the statute’s text.
“In fact, a court order is not mentioned in the provision,” Edwards wrote, rejecting the argument that judicial approval is required before such information may be shared. “Appellants’ insistence that a court order is required thus has no support in the statute.”
Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Patricia A. Millett, both appointees of former President Barack Obama, joined the opinion.
Deporting illegal aliens makes the American people safer.
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) February 24, 2026
Today’s court decision allowing @USTreasury to share IRS data with @ICEgov is a crucial victory for President Trump’s agenda to Make America Safe Again. It also reaffirms a simple truth: laws set by Congress must be…
Attorney General Pam Bondi lauded the decision in a post to X, saying that “today’s court decision allowing the [Treasury Department] to share IRS data with [ICE] is a crucial victory for President Trump’s agenda to Make America Safe Again.”
“It also reaffirms a simple truth: laws set by Congress must be enforced, not undermined by activist judges,” she wrote.
The ruling leaves in place a policy designed to allow federal immigration authorities to obtain address information for individuals subject to criminal investigation, an approach government lawyers say fits squarely within Section 6103’s carve-outs for nontax law enforcement uses.
According to the court, the statute “authorizes IRS to disclose address information, to specific government officials, for use in nontax criminal investigations, and only in response to a valid request.”
The decision upheld a May ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that denied the groups’ request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking the policy.
Advocacy groups, including Somos Un Pueblo Unido, argued the agreement represents an unprecedented expansion of interagency information sharing that violates long-standing taxpayer privacy protections. Their lawsuit was filed last year after reports that ICE had sought IRS data to help locate people in the country illegally.
While Edwards acknowledged that at least one plaintiff likely had standing to sue, he concluded the organizations had not met the “heavy burden” required to justify emergency relief while the litigation proceeds.
“The only issue that we decide is whether, on the sparse record before us, Appellants have met their heavy burden to make a clear showing that they are entitled to the preliminary injunctive relief sought,” Edwards wrote. “We conclude that Appellants have not.”
The court also dismissed claims that the IRS acted arbitrarily in adopting the policy, describing the IRS-DHS memorandum as a nonbinding statement that does not constitute final agency action subject to review under the Administrative Procedure Act.
JUDGE WEIGHS PAUSING IRS DEAL WITH DHS FOR MIGRANT DATA SHARING
Justice Department attorneys have acknowledged the scope of the information-sharing program is atypical, though they maintain it complies with statutory safeguards and will be used only in response to valid investigative requests. The agencies agreed that if ICE requests are deficient, the IRS will not disclose the information.
Tuesday’s decision does not resolve the underlying lawsuit but allows the data-sharing arrangement to continue while the case moves forward, marking a key procedural victory for the administration’s effort to integrate tax data into immigration-related criminal investigations.
