Trump dealt another court blow as ICE scheme to mine IRS data blocked
Source: Raw Story
February 5, 2026 5:30PM ET
The Trump administration was dealt another court blow Thursday as a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security from using taxpayer address information obtained from the IRS.
The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by several community organizations challenging data‑sharing agreements that allowed ICE to request and receive taxpayer addresses for immigration enforcement purposes, according to court documents obtained by Politico's Kyle Cheney.
The court found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the arrangements violated strict confidentiality protections, which limit when and how the IRS may disclose “return information,” including names, addresses, and taxpayer identification numbers. Judge Indira Talwani emphasized that Congress designed the statute “to protect the privacy of tax return information and to regulate in minute detail the disclosure of this material.”
The opinion noted that ICE sought addresses for millions of people, including hundreds of thousands under final removal orders, relying on a provision intended for non‑tax criminal investigation. The court said the statute requires disclosures to be used “solely for” such investigations and only by officers “personally and directly engaged” in them — conditions the judge found were not met.
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-ice-2675103478/
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://t.co/lIvu2Ivukl
JUST IN: A federal judge has barred ICE and DHS from using taxpayer information provided by the IRS.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2026-02-05T21:55:26.120Z
Judge Talwani says that DHS' view that noncitizens lack 4th amendment rights — combined with ICE use of administrative warrants — is a recipe for abuse.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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JUST IN: A federal judge has barred ICE and DHS from using taxpayer information provided by the IRS.
Judge Talwani says that DHS' view that noncitizens lack 4th amendment rights — combined with ICE use of administrative warrants — is a recipe for abuse. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.289669/gov.uscourts.mad.289669.75.0.pdf
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4:54 PM · Feb 5, 2026
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IRS data is supposed to be confidential.
JUST IN: A federal judge has barred ICE and DHS from using taxpayer information provided by the IRS.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2026-02-05T21:55:26.120Z
Judge Talwani says that DHS' view that noncitizens lack 4th amendment rights — combined with ICE use of administrative warrants — is a recipe for abuse.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
