Federal Court Blocks ICE Abuse of Protected Taxpayer Information

Decision comes amid raids of communities and workplaces across the U.S. and during the 2026 tax filing season

BOSTON — Immigrant and taxpayer advocates celebrate the decision by a federal court on Thursday to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) use of tax-related data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts is a win for taxpayers nationwide who have weighed whether filing their taxes exposes them to potential ICE arrest, detention, and deportation.

Filed earlier this year by Asian Law Caucus, Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), and Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP, the lawsuit Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts et al v. Bessent et al. followed efforts to uncover secret agreements between ICE, IRS, and SSA that illegally abuse the privacy of millions of taxpayers and their families. Groups that provide taxpayer services and advocate for immigrant communities—Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts (CEDC), National Korean American Service and Educational Consortium (NAKASEC), National Parents Union (NPU), and UndocuBlack Network (UBN)—joined the lawsuit to seek relief for their taxpaying community members exposed to risk by unlawful information sharing.

The immigrant and taxpayer advocates had the following reactions:

“The court’s ruling confirms what the law has long made clear: ICE cannot secretly repurpose sensitive taxpayer information for immigration enforcement,” said Josh Rosenthal, workers’ rights program director at Asian Law Caucus. “The unlawful data-sharing agreements are deeply alarming for all Americans, and we are grateful that the court stopped this attempt by a rogue agency to flout clear privacy laws. ICE consistently conducts unlawful arrests that devastate families and communities, making the unchecked transfer of personal information especially dangerous. Millions of immigrant workers file their taxes each year. This decision preserves their ability to safely fulfill the annual duty that we all share.”

“This is a strong injunction. The court didn’t just stop future data sharing — it prohibits ICE, DHS, Secretary Noem, and all their agents from using or even viewing the taxpayer information they already illegally received. That kind of relief is rare, and it reflects how serious the agencies’ privacy violations are,” said Sarah Salomon, partner with Keker, Van Nest & Peters.

“The judge is requiring ICE to serve this order directly to the individual agent who has the data and prove they did so by February 10th. That's the kind of oversight you impose when an agency can't be trusted to follow the rule of law,” said Aarti Kohli, executive director of Asian Law Caucus. “We're seeing this pattern nationwide: ICE operating in secret with no legal or
judicial authority. More than ever, federal judges are paying attention and making sure their orders are being followed.”

“Immigrants are doing the right thing by filing their taxes. Punishing them by using their compliance against them is not only cruel and unjust but inevitably hurts everyone,” said Angela Divaris, senior attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services. “The mission of the IRS to serve taxpayers is being undermined in a rush to partner with immigration enforcement. We're seeing clients who are afraid to file taxes and seek legal help because they fear any interaction with the government will expose them to enforcement. When agencies breach the firewall between tax compliance and immigration enforcement, trust collapses.”

“Families deserve safety, dignity, and peace of mind and today, the court took an important step toward delivering that,” said National Parents Union president Keri Rodrigues. "Parents should never have to fear that sharing basic information with the government could put their children, their homes, or their livelihoods at risk. This ruling helps restore trust, protects families’ privacy, and sends a clear message that our most sensitive personal information should never, under any circumstances, be misused.”

“This decision protects the fundamental promise that personal taxpayer information will be kept private. In the past year at CEDC, we have seen how fear affects whether people file taxes, send children to school, or access necessary services, such as healthcare. Today’s ruling sends a powerful message that the law is meant to protect families, not put them in harm’s way,” said Corinn Williams, CEDC executive director.

“ICE’s objectives were never rooted in public safety, but in expanding the tools that the agency can use to terrorize immigrant communities. We celebrate today’s court ruling for rejecting a dangerous legal precedent that would have violated taxpayer privacy for every person who followed the law and fulfilled their obligation to file taxes. This decision affirms that privacy is a
fundamental right, not a mechanism the government may exploit to inflict harm,” said Patrice Lawrence, executive director at the UndocuBlack Network.

“We celebrate the court’s ruling to protect the rights of taxpayers from government overreach and surveillance,” said NAKASEC co-director, Becky Belcore. “Through its information sharing practices, the government sought to trap taxpayers in a catch-22 where they were potential targets for family separation, detention, and deportation – whether they followed the law and filed their taxes or not. The government’s attempts to weaponize private information harms not only the taxpayers themselves, but all of American society for its overreach and exploitation. Today, the court affirmed that the government should work for the people – not against them.”

Media Contacts:
Asian Law Caucus: media@asianlawcaucus.org
Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP: hnaughton@keker.com
NAKASEC: press@nakasec.org