WASHINGTON (TNND) — The latest layer in a drastically changed immigration landscape includes a new partnership between the IRS and ICE.

A federal judge this week declined to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing highly sensitive taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a victory for President Donald Trump and his immigration agenda.

District Judge Dabney Friedrich on Monday agreed with the Justice Department, which has insisted that requests for private data, like names and addresses, will focus on those under criminal investigation for illegally defying deportation orders.

Requesting and receiving information for civil enforcement purposes would constitute a cognizable injury, but none of the organizations have established that such an injury is imminent,” Friedrich wrote. “The Memorandum only allows sharing information for criminal investigations. On this limited record, the Court cannot assume that DHS intends to use the shared information to facilitate civil rather than criminal proceedings.”

Critics who fought the data sharing agreement call it an unprecedented shift in federal tax policy and a breach of privacy.

In an interview with Sinclair Tuesday, Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, said, "The real concern is that it will be used in a wholesale matter large batches of data out of the IRS to ICE where it can no longer be controlled and it can be put to purposes for which it was not intended.”

Kirkpatrick said in breaking decades of precedent, of keeping such information private, there has already been a decrease in the number of people using I-10 forms to pay taxes.

For years, that information has been held confidential both to encourage people to pay their taxes and to reassure them that this information will be very sensitive, will not be leaked."

"Frankly, people were promised if they paid their taxes, even using an I-10 number instead of Social Security number, that they were protected and that this information would not be shared. People rely on that promise," he said.

President Donald Trump and his team are planning to use the information to track down criminal migrants as well as those given final deportation orders and quickly deport them.

Standing alongside White House Border Czar Tom Homan at an April 28 press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “We are going to continue to forge ahead with this mass deportation campaign and the President is open to all remedies to do that."

One aspect of that expanded strategy was captured by Fox Newsthis week. It includes a weeklong enforcement effort that just wrapped up in Houston, resulting in 422 arrests.

One suspect, Hector Castillo-Garcia, tried to flee ICE agents, who said he’d been deported three times and was wanted for multiple crimes, including arson, DUI and aggravated assault.

Those aggressive tactics appear to be having the desired impact.

Illegal border crossings for April are down to 29,238 compared to 247,929 in April 2024.