Judge finds IRS violated the law thousands of times by handing over confidential taxpayer information to ICE

 A federal judge on Thursday slammed the Internal Revenue Service for handing over confidential taxpayer information to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying it violated the law “approximately 42,695 times.”

In November, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly halted the Trump administration’s effort to use identifiable information held by the IRS to further its mass deportation campaign, a decision now pending before the D.C. Circuit.

“The IRS violated the [Internal Revenue Code] approximately 42,695 times by disclosing last known taxpayer addresses to ICE through [Taxpayer Identification Number] Matching without confirming that ICE’s request set forth the ‘address of the taxpayer with respect to whom the requested return information related,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote.

The judge issued the 13-page opinion in response to the Center for Taxpayer Rights’ motion asking whether, if the case were still fully before her, she would allow the government to file a supplemental declaration by IRS Chief Risk and Control Officer Dottie Romo, and grant limited discovery. [MORE]