“Defendants’ automatic injunction issues whether or not the alien needs or seeks emergency relief, whether or not the court has jurisdiction over the alien’s claims, and no matter how frivolous the alien’s claims may be,” Justice Department attorneys argue. “And it does so in the immigration context, thus intruding on core Executive Branch powers.”
The Trump administration has filed an unprecedented lawsuit against all 15 federal judges in Maryland, claiming that a decision blocking the immediate deportation of migrants is unlawful.
According to CNN, Chief District Judge George Russell III of the District of Maryland on Monday signed off an order preventing the Trump administration from removing migrants who have requested a review of detention and deportation decisions. Russell’s order broadly prohibits removal until a habeas corpus petition has been filed, ensuring that immigrants can participate in court proceedings and access attorneys while giving the government “fulsome opportunity to brief and present arguments in its defense.”
In court filings, the U.S. Department of Justice argued that Russell’s pause on removals violates a Supreme Court ruling and impedes President Donald Trump’s authority to enforce federal immigration law.
“Defendants’ automatic injunction issues whether or not the alien needs or seeks emergency relief, whether or not the court has jurisdiction over the alien’s claims, and no matter how frivolous the alien’s claims may be,” Justice Department attorneys argue. “And it does so in the immigration context, thus intruding on core Executive Branch powers.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi further suggested that Maryland’s federal judiciary has actively “undermined” the president’s political agenda.
“President Trump’s executive authority has been undermined since the first hours of his presidency by an endless barrage of injunctions designed to halt his agenda,” Bondi said in a statement. “The American people elected President Trump to carry out his policy agenda: this pattern of judicial overreach undermines the democratic process and cannot be allowed to stand.”
CNN notes that, while a spokesperson for the district court declined a request for comment, Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat, has since blasted the lawsuit on social media.
“This is absurd and an unprecedented attack on the federal judiciary in Maryland,” Ivery wrote on Twitter. “The Trump administration will stop at nothing to undermine judicial rulings and delegitimize the courts.”
One of the judges named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Paula Xinis, has called the Trump administration’s deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a mega-prison in El Salvador illegal.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have since asked Xinis to impose fines against the government, which allegedly ignored court orders to effect Abrego Garcia’s immediate return to the United States.
James Sample, a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University, told PBS that the lawsuit is yet another example of the Trump administration’s erosion of legal norms. Sample said that, while it is unusual for judges like Russell to grant automatic relief to an entire class of cases, the administration’s actions and defiance of orders likely forced the court’s hand.
“The judges here didn’t ask to be put in this unenviable position,” Sample said. “Faced with imperfect options, they have made an entire reasonable, cautious choice to modestly check an executive branch that is determined to circumvent any semblance of impartial process.”
Sources
Trump administration sues all 15 Maryland federal judges over order blocking removal of immigrants
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