WASHINGTON (AP) — A Washington, D.C., federal court on Tuesday rejected a request from an immigrant rights group to temporarily block the IRS from sharing certain taxpayer data that could make it easier to identify and deport people who are in the U.S. illegally.

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to issue a preliminary injunction for the immigrants’ rights group, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, and other nonprofits that are suing the federal government over the data-sharing agreement signed last April by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The agreement allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records.

In declining the preliminary injunction request, Judge Harry T. Edwards wrote that the nonprofit groups “are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim,” since the information the agencies are sharing isn’t covered by the IRS privacy statute.

A representative from Centro de Trabajadores Unidos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media that the court decision was a “crucial victory” for the administration. “Deporting illegal aliens makes the American people safer,” Bondi said in her post.

The Trump administration has argued that the agreement helps carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda to secure U.S. borders and is part of his larger nationwide immigration crackdown, which has resulted in deportations and workplace raids.

The creation of the data sharing agreement was so controversial that the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service resigned last year over the deal.

Earlier this month it was revealed in court filings that the IRS had erroneously shared the taxpayer information of thousands of people with the Department of Homeland Security as part of the agreement.

A declaration filed by IRS Chief Risk and Control Officer Dottie Romo stated that the IRS was only able to verify roughly 47,000 of the 1.28 million names ICE requested. For less than 5% of those individuals, the IRS gave ICE additional address information, potentially violating privacy rules created to protect taxpayer data.

__

Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

Fatima Hussein, The Associated Press