June 26 (UPI) — The Trump administration is suing all 15 federal district court judges in Maryland over a standing order preventing the government from deporting immigrants who are challenging their removal.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday but announced Wednesday, is an unprecedented move by the Trump administration and an escalation of its attack on the judicial system and judges who rule against his immigration crackdown.
The standing order, issued last month, provides an automatic two-business-day stay of deportation for any non-citizen in immigration custody who challenges their removal with a habeas corpus petition.
In the order, U.S. District Chief Judge George Russell said the automatic stay was in response to the recent influx of petitions from non-citizens purportedly subject to “improper and imminent removal from the United States” filed after normal court hours and on weekends and holidays, creating scheduling difficulties and hurried hearings.
The Justice Department is challenging the order by accusing the district court of defying procedural and substantive requirements for issuing preliminary injunctions, while flouting congressional intent and violating Supreme Court precedent.”
“This lawsuit involves yet another regrettable example of the unlawful use of equitable powers to restrain the Executive,” the lawsuit states.
Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has led a crackdown on immigration that includes an attempt to mass deport undocumented individuals.
The move has attracted accusations that the White House is eroding due process by deporting immigrants before they have a chance to fight their removal orders, and it has prompted a litany of legal challenges, many of which have been decided against the Trump administration.
Trump, and Trump officials, have repeatedly attacked the judicial system, particularly judges who have ruled against him, and have even called for their impeachment. He has also used his executive powers to target law firms and lawyers linked to his perceived political opponents — both of which have been condemned by critics and members of the legal profession.
Alicia Bannon, director of the Judiciary Program at the NYU Law School’s Brennan Center, explained on X on Wednesday that the Maryland court’s order was “meant to ensure” migrants could exercise their right to challenge their detention in court and to ask a judge if they were being lawfully held by the government.
“The standing order from the Maryland federal court looks like a routine use of judicial authority to preserve the court’s ability to review cases,” she said. “If the administration’s challenge is successful, it will be far easier to evade the courts altogether in future immigration cases.
“It’s hard not to see this challenge as further escalation by the administration of its opposition to courts that have sought to check illegal government conduct.”
Trump’s Justice Department counters that the judges are unlawfully restricting the president’s executive powers.
“This Department of Justice will continue to vigorously defend @POTUS’s ability to implement his agenda without interference from activist federal judges,” Chad Mizelle, chief of staff at the Department of Justice, said on X.
Attorney General Pam Bondi similarly highlighted the number of rulings going against Trump as evidence that he is being persecuted.
“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,” she 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.”