IRS improperly disclosed confidential information of thousands of taxpayers Department of Homeland Security It’s part of the agencies’ controversial agreement to share immigration data to help identify people living in the country illegally, according to a new court filing.

The U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security finalized an agreement last spring that would allow taxpayer data to be shared with immigration authorities to help them find illegal immigrants.

The agreement resulted in the resignation of top IRS officials and authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit the names and addresses of illegal immigrants to the IRS for cross-verification with tax records.

In a statement filed Wednesday, IRS Chief Risk and Control Officer Dottie Romo said the IRS was able to verify approximately 47,000 of the 1.28 million names requested by ICE and then disclose those names to immigration enforcement agencies.

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The IRS improperly disclosed the taxpayer information of thousands of people at the Department of Homeland Security. (Getty Images)

The IRS provided additional address information to ICE for less than 5% of the names, which may have violated regulations Privacy Policy Created to protect taxpayer data.

The tax agency said it recently discovered the error and is working with other federal agencies to resolve the matter.

Romo said the Treasury Department notified DHS of the error last month and asked DHS to assist in “immediate steps to correct this matter consistent with federal law,” including “appropriate disposal of any data provided to ICE by the IRS based on incomplete or insufficient address information.”

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The U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security finalized an agreement last spring that would allow taxpayer data to be shared with immigration authorities. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Last year’s agreement between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security sparked lawsuits against the Trump administration and broke with longstanding incentives the IRS Immigrants pay taxes Even if they are not legally present in the United States, they can be assured that their data is safe.

Shortly after the agreement was signed, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Secretary on behalf of multiple immigrant rights groups.

Last week, a federal judge ordered the IRS to stop disclosing residential addresses to ICE, the second ruling blocking an IRS-DHS agreement.

In November, another federal judge blocked the IRS from sharing information with the Department of Homeland Security, saying the agency violated the Taxpayer Secrecy Act by unlawfully disseminating tax data on some immigrants over the summer.

Shortly after the agreement was signed, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Secretary on behalf of multiple immigrant rights groups. (Joe Reddell/Getty Images)

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Advocacy groups are concerned that taxpayer records could be illegally leaked, which could be used to maliciously target U.S. citizens and invade their privacy.

“Once taxpayer data is opened to immigration enforcement, mistakes are inevitable and the consequences will fall on innocent people,” Tom Bowman, policy counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, told The Associated Press. “Unfortunately, the disclosure of thousands of confidential records shows exactly why the strict legal firewall exists and has until now been viewed as an important guardrail.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.