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The Trump administration violated IRS rules by sharing taxpayer data with ICE, a federal court ruled.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Trump administration violated federal law by allowing the IRS to share taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The court found that the IRS failed to meet the stringent statutory requirements for data sharing, specifically failing to ensure that ICE's requests complied with the law. In the case, the IRS disclosed over 47,000 records to ICE using a "Data-Exchange Procedure." The court noted that the procedure was often inadequate, as it merely checked for a five- or nine-digit number in the address field, which did not necessarily reflect a specific zip code or a street name. The court characterized the government's defense of the procedure as "weak sauce," noting that the IRS could still conduct criminal investigations under seal to protect confidentiality. The Trump administration argued that the lower court's order was hindering its ability to conduct criminal investigations. However, the appeals court maintained that the government has no legitimate interest in conducting investigations in violation of the statute.

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