IRS Violated Privacy Law in ICE Data Sharing, Judge Confirms

A federal judge ruled that the IRS violated taxpayer privacy laws for tens of thousands of taxpayers when responding to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement request for data on immigrants.

The IRS acknowledged in a February court filing that it mistakenly gave ICE personal data on thousands of immigrants as when it responded to an already controversial data-sharing agreement. The agreement between the tax agency and Department of Homeland Security, signed last April, resulted in multiple IRS officials quitting and was later blocked by two federal judges.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in a Feb. 26 ruling that if the US ...