Maryland federal court bars Trump administration from deporting detainees filing for habeas corpus

Dan Belson, Baltimore Sun on May 23, 2025

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The chief judge of Maryland’s federal district court issued a standing order this week prohibiting the Trump administration from deporting people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody who request to have their detention reviewed by a judge.

The standing order, signed by Chief Judge George Levi Russell III, only automatically applies for about the first two business days after a petition for habeas corpus is filed on behalf of an “alien detainee.” It also prohibits the Trump administration from changing that person’s legal status.

The directive comes as Maryland’s federal court continues to be a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s deportation campaign and as the government flouts one judge’s orders to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States. Legal experts said that Russell’s order is a direct response to the government’s handling of the mistakenly deported Maryland man’s case.

They noted that, despite its limited nature, the order was an unusual use of the chief judge’s ability to issue directives on courthouse operations — a power usually used for setting fees and how certain paperwork should be filed. It also seemed to be in preparation for more legal quandaries tied to the Trump administration’s sending migrants to prisons in other countries.

Habeas corpus is the legal process guaranteed by the Constitution that allows individuals to appear before a judge and challenge their detention by the government. The foundational right, which dates back to the Magna Carta, becomes much more legally fraught if the person seeking it is taken off U.S. soil.

Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond, described Russell’s standing order as a precautionary measure.

He said that the court is trying to be direct with the Trump administration by requiring it to allow habeas-seekers to get their case together and “have the opportunity to be heard before they are whisked out of the country to El Salvador.”

A spokesperson for the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment. Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security and ICE’s field office in Baltimore did not immediately return requests for comment on Friday.

“I’m surprised they haven’t raised hell about it already,” Tobias said.

Within the U.S. justice system, habeas corpus is often a last resort, said Guha Krishnamurthi, a law professor at the University of Maryland Carey Law School. For people facing deportation from the United States, it can be critical, especially given the Trump administration’s rapid transfers of migrants to other countries like El Salvador or South Sudan.

A “writ” of habeas corpus — essentially a court order requiring the government to bring a person in their custody into court to prove they have the authority to detain them — would usually not apply if the detainee is transferred to another country, Krishnamurthi said. Offshore detention centers that the United States pays for, like the one in El Salvador, could feasibly be a gray area, but courts have not ruled on that.

By restricting the government from deporting immigration detainees, even if for a few days, the court is trying to avoid getting to that point, Krishnamurthi said.

Krishnamurthi noted that while it seemed unusual for a chief judge to do so through a standing order, it’s not uncommon for a court to issue such a restraint “for fear there will be irreparable harm.” He also said that the standing order, with only a two-day limit, was “pretty limited.”

Russell, who President Barack Obama appointed in 2011, heads a court that has become one of the main venues for legal challenges to Trump administration policies. Its judges, who tend to lean to the progressive side, have ruled on cases ranging from birthright citizenship to DEI cuts.

Some of Russell’s decision may have simply been to lend U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who is presiding over Abrego Garcia’s case, some support, said Tobias.

Xinis, whose April order for the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States was upheld by the Supreme Court last month, has ordered for “expedited discovery” to determine what, if anything, the government has done to bring him back.

The Trump administration, which has vowed on social media that the Maryland man will never come back, has slowed the process by invoking its “state secrets” privilege, arguing that sharing that information would pose a threat to national security. Justice Department attorneys have also argued that they can’t be legally ordered to negotiate with a foreign nation for Abrego Garcia’s return.

“She’s been laboring in hell,” said Tobias. “She needs all the support she can get.”