A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from using taxpayer information to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) track down illegal immigrants.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ordered the IRS and Social Security Administration to stop sharing data with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE. She also prohibited the agencies from using the data to target illegals as the case proceeds.
Talwani rejected the government’s argument that noncitizens do not have Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The judge argued that using this method is “ripe for abuse” and warned that it would give ICE nearly unlimited authority to access sensitive information for civil enforcement.
The judge further stated that sharing this data with ICE could prompt immigrants to refrain from complying with tax law and risk wrongful arrests due to mistaken identity. She referred to a high-profile case in Minnesota in which ICE arrested a naturalized U.S. citizen after confusing him with another suspect.
JUST IN: A federal judge has barred ICE and DHS from using taxpayer information provided by the IRS.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 5, 2026
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://t.co/lIvu2Ivukl pic.twitter.com/O3TJFE5TM1
This is not the first time Judge Talwani has ruled against the Trump administration. In April 2025, she blocked DHS from eliminating humanitarian parole for about 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. She argued that this would force these individuals to make a “hostage choice” between leaving the U.S. or remaining in the country without legal status.
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Later in the year, she issued a preliminary injunction on a provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that would have stripped Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood affiliates.
ICE and DHS have argued that having access to IRS and SSA records is a necessary tool to locate and deport illegal immigrants who might not show up in law enforcement databases. This is especially true of illegal immigrants who do not have criminal records and pay taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers.
American citizens face severe civil and criminal penalties for any tax violation. Today, a federal judge has ruled that illegal aliens are functionally exempt from any consequences for robbing the American taxpayer. https://t.co/LfeRmbBFCd
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) February 5, 2026
Under an April 2025 memorandum of understanding, ICE was allowed to send lists of suspected illegal immigrants to the IRS, which would then cross-reference the names with tax returns and other data. The IRS would send back verified addresses so ICE could arrest them.
This has raised fears that other federal agencies could use this method as a mass surveillance apparatus if courts failed to draw clear lines governing how they can obtain and use this data.
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