Image: ICE and IRS broke the law more than 42,000 times by unlawfully sharing sensitive taxpayer data to find and arrest undocumented immigrants, according to a federal judge (REUTERS)

A federal judge has found that the Internal Revenue Service “violated” federal law “approximately 42,695 times” when the agency shared confidential taxpayer information with immigration authorities last year.

Thursday’s ruling from District Judge Coleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., determined that the IRS unlawfully shared taxpayer information for thousands of people with the Department of Homeland Security as part of a controversial agreement under Donald Trump’s administration to track down and arrest people living in the country illegally.

The ruling follows a declaration from a top IRS official who admitted in court filings that the IRS gave Homeland Security information on more than 47,000 of the 1.28 million people requested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.