IRS Mistakenly Shares Data on Thousands of Immigrants With ICE

The IRS mistakenly gave the Department of Homeland Security personal data on thousands of immigrants as part of the agencies’ controversial data-sharing agreement, according to a new court filing.

The disclosure came after an agreement last April between IRS and DHS to share immigrants’ personal identification information as part of the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. The deal resulted in a slew of top agency leaders leaving and lawsuits from taxpayer rights and immigration groups. Two federal judges blocked the implementation of the agreement, saying it violated federal privacy laws.

The IRS was only able to verify 47,289 individuals of the 1.28 million that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement requested, according to the legal filing.

But for less than 5% of those individuals, the IRS gave ICE additional address information, IRS Chief Risk and Control Officer Dottie Romo said in a declaration with the US District Court for the District of Columbia dated Wednesday.

The Treasury Department on Jan. 23 notified DHS of the issue and requested help to fix the issue, including “by taking all appropriate steps to prevent the disclosure or dissemination, and to ensure the appropriate disposal, of any data provided to ICE by IRS based on incomplete or insufficient address information,” according to the filing.

DHS and ICE confirmed to Treasury and IRS that they will comply with federal law and the agreement between the agencies in addressing the data issue. DHS and ICE also said they would not inspect or use the return information obtained by the IRS because of court ordered injunctions on the agency agreement.

The IRS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Center for Taxpayer Rights v. IRS, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00457, 2/11/26