A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling on Tuesday that prevents the IRS from providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with the addresses of millions of individuals. The decision affirms a lower court’s previous ruling that had blocked the data-sharing arrangement.

The legal dispute centers on a request made by ICE to the IRS for the last known addresses of a large segment of the population. The appeals court panel concluded that the request was overly broad and failed to meet the necessary legal standards required for the IRS to disclose such sensitive taxpayer information. By upholding the lower court's decision, the panel has effectively maintained the privacy protections currently in place for taxpayer data against requests from immigration authorities.

While the ruling focuses on the scope of the data request, it highlights the ongoing tension between federal immigration enforcement efforts and the privacy rights of taxpayers. The court’s decision serves as a significant check on the ability of immigration agencies to leverage IRS databases for broad enforcement actions. As of now, the IRS remains barred from fulfilling the specific request for address information that triggered this litigation.