The answer: Paul Clement, a prominent attorney and former U.S. solicitor general described by a law professor as “Mr. Republican Establishment.”

It might seem like an odd choice, since every judge on the 10-member, Maryland-based court was originally selected by a Democratic president.

But that’s the point.

In their choice of Clement, 59, the judges picked an accomplished lawyer who might cool the partisan temperature in President Donald Trump’s effort to rein in federal judges who have time and again turned aside executive branch actions they see as lawless and without legal merit.

“The judges were smart,” said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. “They’re not interested in having a big fight with Trump if they don’t have to. But they’re in the middle of it now. There are probably more cases [in Maryland] than in almost every other district in the country.”

Trump’s Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security are seeking an injunction to block Maryland judges from abiding by a standing order preventing the administration from immediately deporting undocumented migrants who seek a review of their detention.

Clement, who is from Wisconsin, has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court. He was U.S. solicitor general — the government’s chief appellate lawyer — during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush beginning in 2005. He is a former clerk for Antonin Scalia, the conservative Supreme Court justice who died in 2016.

“He is Mr. Republican Establishment,” said Mark Graber, a professor at the University of Maryland law school. “He is an extraordinarily distinguished attorney.”

Clement has represented conservative causes such as a push against a Colorado law preventing anti-abortion activists from coming near people entering a clinic. He represented Chevron after the company was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for alleged violations of environmental laws.

But he also represented Hannah Dugan, the Milwaukee County Circuit Judge charged with helping a man evade federal immigration authorities. That case catapulted Dugan — and in a sense Clement — into the national fight between the Trump administration and the judiciary over immigration policies. The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended her while the case is pending.

Clement also represented the law firm WilmerHale in arguing against a Trump administration executive order the firm said was punitive.

The Maryland decision being challenged was signed by Baltimore-based Chief Judge George L. Russell III.  Russell said the order pausing deportations “shall be entered in every such case upon its filing.”

The Trump administration has called the May order an example of judicial overreach. “This lawsuit involves yet another regrettable example of the unlawful use of equitable powers to restrain the Executive,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in June.

The dispute escalated tension between Trump and the federal judiciary — particularly in Maryland, which has blocked key executive actions.

In recent months, judges in the state approved a request for a preliminary injunction preventing immigration authorities from conducting raids in certain houses of worship, blocked an order seeking to end government support for diversity programs, and extended a block on federal funding for providers of gender-affirming health care for young transgender people. A Maryland judge, Paula Xinis, is overseeing the wrongful deportation allegations of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador in March in what the administration called an administrative error.

The Trump administration’s June lawsuit named all 10 of the state’s federal judges — plus five senior judges with limited caseloads — as defendants.

“This is simply unprecedented,” Graber said. “There’s a very standard way of objecting to a judicial decision. You get a court to stay a judicial order. You don’t file a new suit getting an injunction against a court for not doing their job. This is not serious. It is designed for The Baltimore Sun and not the legal system.”

Democratic former President Joe Biden appointed six judges to the federal court whose members are split between courthouses in Baltimore and Greenbelt. Three other judges were named by former Democratic President Barack Obama. The remaining judge, Stephanie Gallagher, was also nominated by Obama and renominated by Trump in 2019 because she was not confirmed during Obama’s administration.

Neither Clement nor the Justice Department replied to The Baltimore Sun’s inquiries about the case. The Maryland court declined through a public information officer to respond to questions about the case, such as which entity is paying for Clement’s defense.

The department said in a recent statement that the Maryland judges’ automatic injunctions order are “yet another egregious example of unlawful judicial overreach into the Executive Branch’s ability to enforce and administer federal law.”

Thomas Cullen — a judge from the Western District of Virginia — was assigned to  the suit because a Maryland judge could not hear a case in which they were a party.

Cullen, a former U.S. attorney for Virginia, was nominated to the bench during Trump’s first term in 2019 and was easily confirmed by the Senate.

Cullen plans to convene a hearing in Baltimore on Aug. 11 in the case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com.

To the contrary, leaders of the defiant Montgomery County city, nicknamed “The People’s Republic of Takoma Park” and “Granola Park,” would have been surprised if the memo excluded the irreverent activists’ enclave, whose charter explicitly forbids its police from enforcing federal immigration laws that could lead to deportation.

One thing about the U.S. Department of Homeland Security directive on May 29 did disappoint Mayor Talisha Searcy, though: They misspelled her city’s name. “I figured maybe AI put together the list. I did see that our city was misspelled (as “Tacoma”),” said Searcy. “I kind of took that as legally we’re not on the list,” she said with a laugh.

Baltimore, the State of Maryland, and multiple other counties and cities were also on the list, which the administration took down without explanation a few days after it was posted. A reporter asking about the list was referred by the White House to DHS, but department spokespersons did not respond to questions from The Baltimore Sun.

Takoma Park, a city of 18,000 known for old bungalows and mature trees as well as its politics, is seven miles from the White House. It seems to stand for everything Republican President Donald Trump does not.

It deems itself a “Nuclear-Free Zone,” prohibiting city contracts with nuclear weapons producers.

It allows residents who are not U.S. citizens — as well as people as young as 16 — to vote in local (but not state or federal) elections.

Maryland Republican Party Chairwoman Nicole Beus Harris said, “The notion of non-citizens voting in our elections is absurd, and we are overwhelmingly opposed to it.” Local elections, she told The Sun, “are controlled locally, but election officials need to be diligent in ensuring that these non-citizen voters are in compliance with state and federal law, and are not voting in state or federal elections.”

A sanctuary city since 1985

The city, which prides itself on its diversity — a third of its residents are foreign-born — has long held a reputation for going its own way. Next to a downtown plaque chronicling the city’s history stands a dark metal bust of a long-deceased rooster named Roscoe, honored by a citizens’ group for being “free-spirited” and bringing “joy to our urban lives.”

“I notice when I go around the country, a lot of the cities and towns that have real character pride themselves on their quirkiness” — and Takoma Park is one, said Democratic U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, who has lived here for more than 30 years.

Wes Moore, Maryland’s Democratic governor, was born in Takoma Park.  Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich is also from here.

It has been a sanctuary city since 1985, when it enacted a new law to aid refugees fleeing El Salvador and Guatemala.

Republicans in Democratic-dominated Montgomery County rail against such policies in Takoma Park and countywide, citing Elrich’s 2019 order — issued during Trump’s first term — that refused to allow county resources to help enforce immigration law. The restrictions don’t apply in cases involving violent crime or threats to public safety.

“We value and welcome legal immigrants, many of whom have spent years working through the legal process to obtain Green Cards or citizenship,” county Republican Chairman Reardon Sullivan said in response to The Sun’s questions. “Allowing others to break US immigration laws and bypass those who have waited in line is unfair. Would you just let anyone come into your house and live there?”

While there is no standard agreement on what constitutes a “sanctuary city,” Takoma Park was among the first in the nation to define it and put it into its municipal code 40 years ago.

“To be such a small community — of 2.4 square miles — and to have that much diversity means we’ve got to work at being inclusive and welcoming, and make sure people feel safe,” said Montgomery County Council President Kate Stewart, a former Takoma Park mayor. “If someone is not yet a citizen, we want to make sure they’re able to participate fully in the local community, and that includes our local government.”

Said Searcy: “If you are in our community, we welcome your voice. We want to see you run for office, we want to see you vote for elected officials that will serve you. And I think that’s just part of what it means to live in a democracy.”

Multiple ICE arrests in Takoma Park

On July 9, Searcy posted a public notice to city residents stating that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were spotted that morning in Takoma Park, and “several individuals were taken into custody” by the agents, but that few details were available.

Searcy stressed in the notice that Takoma Park “reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the safety and rights of all members of our community, regardless of their background or place of birth.”

Takoma Park Police Chief Antonio DeVaul told The Sun that ICE didn’t inform him in advance of any operation, but that a resident reported seeing the agents in their cars on the side of a road with their emergency lights on. DeVaul said ICE confirmed later that “multiple arrests were made. However, they did not provide any additional details regarding the nature of the incident or why the arrests were made.”

ICE did not return messages seeking comment.

‘Liberal excess’

Trump campaigned in 2024 on mass deportations and better securing the border.

A Gallup Poll in June showed the president’s support slipping on the issue, with a majority disapproving of his handling of immigration. The turnaround is generated “in good part by the Trump Administration’s often cruel and overzealous efforts” on deportation, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Another political scientist, Flavio Hickel, said the rest of the nation probably isn’t ready for Takoma Park’s approach.

“I think most Americans in this climate would see Takoma Park as an example of ‘liberal excess,’ particularly when coupled with some of their anti-nuclear and pro-tree provisions,” said Hickel, an associate political science professor at Washington College in Chestertown. Takoma Park has strict restrictions on removing or pruning many of its trees.

“We have a tree ordinance,” Searcy said. “We are very pro-tree as a community.”

Takoma Park’s nicknames include “the Berkeley (California) of the East.”

“I haven’t compared us to Berkeley lately,” said Stewart, the County Council president. “I like to think Takoma Park stands on its own. It’s a unique place.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com.

Attorneys for Abrego Garcia, who worked in Maryland until being mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador in March, fear his release could lead to him being deported by the Trump administration for a second time.

His attorneys want him returned to Maryland, where he can be near his family in Prince George’s County.

U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. convened a hearing in Nashville on Wednesday to consider whether or not to release him from jail pending his trial on human smuggling-related charges.

The judge said from the bench that he won’t rule on the matter this week.

Administration officials initially said they planned to send Abrego Garcia to a not-yet-identified “third country” — but not his native El Salvador, where he was sent in error in March — if he is freed from federal custody.

The administration says the list of possible foreign destinations could include South Sudan and Mexico, but that no decision has been made.

A Maryland judge, Paula Xinis, said last week she would consider a temporary restraining order blocking the government from deporting Abrego Garcia again until his circumstances were properly reviewed.

The Justice Department argued that Xinis lacked the authority to issue such an order. No such order has been issued.

The sheet metal worker’s case has been seized upon by congressional Democrats as an example of the administration’s callousness towards immigrants’ rights. The administration has called Abrego Garcia a gang member and human trafficker who should not be set free in the United States.

Abrego Garcia is accused in the Tennessee federal indictment of being an MS-13 gang member who conspired to bring undocumented people to the United States.

In June, a magistrate judge ruled there wasn’t enough evidence for the government to continue to detain Abrego Garcia pending the trial.

The government, which appealed, argued in a recent motion that Abrego Garcia “should be detained pending trial because there is no combination of bail conditions that can reasonably assure either the safety of the community or the defendant’s appearance in future court proceedings.”

Abrego Garcia was apprehended in March and sent to an El Salvador prison. His detention came despite a legal protective order in 2019 to prevent his removal to El Salvador, where he has said gangs threatened him. The administration has called the deportation an administrative error.

Abrego Garcia was held for months in two El Salvador prisons while the Trump administration said it had no authority to bring him back from the sovereign nation. He was flown to Tennessee in June to face the criminal charges against him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com.

U.S. District Judge Paul Xinis said during a hearing that she would rule “before long” on a proposed order that attorneys for the sheet metal worker say is necessary to protect his due process rights.

Congressional Democrats have seized upon his case as an example of the administration’s disregard for immigrants’ rights and willingness to buck federal court orders. The administration has called Abrego Garcia a gang member and human trafficker who should not be set free in the United States.

Abrego Garcia’s supporters gathered outside the federal courthouse during each hearing. On Friday, two of them shouted at Justice Department lawyers as they got into their car. “How do you sleep at night?” one yelled.

Administration officials have said they plan to send Abrego Garcia to a not-yet-identified “third country” — but not his native El Salvador, where he was sent in error in March — if he is freed from federal custody next week while awaiting trial on human smuggling-related charges.

He is accused in the federal indictment of being an MS-13 gang member who conspired “to bring undocumented aliens to the United States from countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and elsewhere.”

Abrego Garcia, who has pleaded not guilty, faces a hearing on Wednesday in Tennessee that could decide if he is released from pre-trial custody. If he is released, Abrego Garcia would initially be detained — and it could be anywhere in the country — for as long as a few weeks before possibly being sent to a foreign country, U.S. immigration official Thomas Giles told the court on Thursday.

The administration says the list of possible foreign destinations could include South Sudan and Mexico, but that no decision has been made.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have filed an emergency motion demanding that Abrego Garcia be returned to Maryland if he is temporarily released in the Tennessee case.

They are also asking, according to attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, that “before Kilmar Abrego Garcia is put on a plane to any particular country, that he and his attorneys receive written notice of that country will be and a reasonable period of time — which we suggested could be as little as 72 hours” to challenge the assignment.

“There are many, many countries in which he might well suffer persecution,” Sandoval-Moshenberg told reporters after the hearing. “It’s unclear, whatever country he would be sent to, whether he would even be at liberty in that country or whether he would be incarcerated.”

The Justice Department has argued that Xinis lacks the authority to issue such an order. It says his wrongful deportation case is moot because Abrego Garcia has already been returned to the United States. Xinis has declined the government’s request to dismiss the case.

On Friday, Xinis grilled Justice Department attorney Sarmad M. Khojasteh over his claim that a low-level immigration official would make the critical decision of what country Kilmar Abrego Garcia may be deported to.

“You’re going to have me believe that your clients, who are real parties in interest — who have a vested interest in winning this case — are going to leave it to a desk officer to decide where Mr. Abrego is going to go?” Xinis told him.

“They’re not going to have any input?” the judge said, referring to higher-ups in the administration. “And yet they’ve told the world about all the input they’ve had to date? It defies reality.”

Khojasteh told the judge that the decision would be handled by an immigration officer, just like in other cases.

The Justice Department has stated that it will not deny Abrego Garcia his rights. “The removal of Abrego Garcia as challenged in the (wrongful deportation) complaint was an isolated mistake,” the department said in a recent brief.

Abrego Garcia, whose family is in Prince George’s County, was apprehended in March and sent to an El Salvador prison. His detention came despite a legal protective order in 2019 to prevent his removal to El Salvador, where he has said gangs threatened him. The administration has called the deportation an administrative error.

Abrego Garcia was held for months in two El Salvador prisons while the Trump administration said it had no authority to bring him back from the sovereign nation. He was flown to Tennessee in June to face the criminal charges against him.

Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com.

“Neither the Congresswoman nor her husband have any knowledge that trades are happening, nor do they direct them,” said a statement from McClain Delaney — who lives in Potomac, which is known for its wealth, and whose district stretches into Western Maryland — in response to questions from The Baltimore Sun.

The arrangement by McClain Delaney, a first-term Democrat, underscores the sensitivity, heightened in recent months, over how — or whether — federal lawmakers should be allowed to play the market given that they can have access to inside information. Public interest groups worry that lawmakers could direct policy to benefit companies in which they have invested.

Calls for reforms — such as placing stocks in blind trusts or banning members’ ownership entirely— have accelerated following a period last spring when the market tanked over concerns about President Donald Trump’s international tariffs. The tariff worries led to many stocks being available at advantageous prices before they rose in value when he announced a tariff pause on April 9. Congressional Democrats have called for investigations into whether lawmakers or others knew the pause was coming and bought stocks.

More than most legislative calculations, Maryland lawmakers’ decisions about proposed stock trading restrictions are personal because many are invested in the market.

All holdings of senators and representatives are listed in the required annual financial disclosure reports, and members are required to report stock transactions periodically. They make $174,000 per year and receive allowances for staff and office expenses. Congress also requires members to file reports on trips funded by third parties.

Most of the Maryland members hold mutual funds, annuities or other investments rather than individual stocks, according to The Sun’s review of the annual forms.

For example, Democrat Chris Van Hollen, the state’s senior U.S. senator, does not hold any individual stocks. His disclosure listed investments in two Vanguard mutual funds and the Congressional Federal Credit Union. Each of those assets was valued at $15,000 to $50,000.

McClain Delaney is the wealthiest member of Maryland’s congressional delegation. Her net worth can’t be assessed through the disclosure forms, which require that individual asset values be listed only in broad ranges rather than specific amounts. But her husband — former 6th District Congressman John Delaney — was estimated by OpenSecrets to have a net worth of more than $200 million in 2017, and much of that wealth is reflected in her report as joint holdings. Delaney, who has held large investments in commercial banks and real estate, left Congress in 2018 and sought unsuccessfully to win the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.

According to McClain Delaney’s report, filed Feb. 25, her assets include joint investments in Acacia Partners, a Texas-based private equity firm; the American Steadfast hedge fund; and the Farallon Capital Partners hedge fund. Each of the three assets is worth $5 million to $25 million, the report said.

Her assets also include bank stock in Forbright Inc., a holding company founded by her husband. The stock is valued at $25 million to $50 million, her report said.

‘Congress shouldn’t be day-trading stocks’

There is broad agreement among Maryland’s Congress members that some level of stock trading reform is needed. But the lawmakers don’t all agree on what should be done.

Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County, Sarah Elfreth of Anne Arundel County, and Johnny Olszewski Jr., of Baltimore County, told The Sun they support a House bill called the TRUST in Congress Act that would require members, their spouses and dependent children to divest individual stocks or move those investments into a blind trust. The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island and Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.

“The floor of the House of Representatives should not resemble the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and members of Congress shouldn’t be day-trading stocks when we should be focused on the public good,” Raskin said.

In his most recent report, filed May 15, Raskin reported investments in mutual funds, annuities and other funds, including a Metropolitan West bond fund valued at $250,000 to $500,000.

The assets of Elfreth, a former state senator, include a Maryland state retirement and pension account, and a T. Rowe Price retirement account valued collectively at between $16,000-$65,000.

Olszewski’s priciest assets include M&T Bank checking, savings or CD accounts and an irrevocable family trust valued between $100,000 and $250,000, and a Fidelity Investment retirement account worth $50,000 to $100,000. A fantasy football fan, he holds stock in DraftKings, the sports betting and sports fantasy site, valued at $1,000 to $15,000.

OpenSecrets, a government watchdog group, says the current disclosure requirements should be tightened to boost transparency.

“The current requirements for personal disclosure are far from sufficient,” Hilary Braseth, executive director of OpenSecrets, told The Sun. “Because assets and liabilities are reported in such wide ranges of values, it is very difficult for the public to get a true understanding of elected officials’ net worth and whether they are leveraging any insider knowledge for personal gain,” she said. “Transparency and accountability are at the heart of a functioning democracy. Our elected officials need to take that seriously. ”

In seeking to prohibit lawmakers’ stock trades, Van Hollen, in his second six-year term, has proposed going further than many of his colleagues by also barring the use of qualified blind trusts, in which a third party manages assets.

The Democrat believes that such arrangements are not foolproof. “There is no guarantee that they are truly blind, as the grantor generally knows what assets are placed in it,” a spokesperson said. The spokesperson also said there can be a lack of oversight of the asset holder’s dealings with the trustee.

Maryland’s other senator, Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, supports Senate legislation sponsored by Democrats Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Mark Kelly of Arizona, which requires members to either not hold stocks or place them in a blind trust, according to her office.

Alsobrooks, first elected last year, has not yet filed a financial disclosure report after receiving an extension until later this month.

All members of Maryland’s congressional delegation are Democats except Republican Rep. Andy Harris, who represents Harford County, the Eastern Shore and a portion of Baltimore County.

Harris did not return messages seeking comment. The House Freedom Caucus, a fiscally conservative group Harris chairs, has advocated broadly for ending stock trading by Congress members.

Harris’ most recent disclosure, filed in 2024, listed investments in a series of mutual and other funds. The priciest was a Vanguard Target Retirement fund valued at $1 million to $5 million. He received an extension, and his next report is due in August.

Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com

“I’m not willing to allow an unfettered release of Mr. Garcia into ICE custody,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said at the end of Abrego Garcia’s wrongful deportation case. It’s unclear whether she will issue a temporary restraining order, but the hearing is set to continue on Friday.

Abrego Garcia was transported from El Salvador to Tennessee in June to face human smuggling-related charges, and his attorneys are worried the government may deport him again if he is released while awaiting trial.

On Thursday, an immigration official testified there are no clear plans yet for what to do with Abrego Garcia.

Trump administration officials have said they plan to send the sheet metal worker to a not-yet-identified “third country” — but not his native El Salvador, where he was initially sent — if he is freed from federal custody next week while his trial in Tennessee.

Thomas Giles, assistant director for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations, told the court Thursday that the process has not begun to determine whether Abrego Garcia will be sent to a third country and, if so, which country that will be.

“We don’t work these cases until they’re in ICE custody,” said Giles, who sat in the witness box and answered questions from attorneys in the case.

In the meantime, Xinis said she was considering an order that says the government must not remove Garcia “beyond the local confines of Tennessee and will not remove him from the United States” for 48 hours.

In his responses, Giles did not appear to meet Xinis’ demands on Monday for more specific plans from the government about Abrego Garcia. Sascha Rand, an attorney for Abrego Garcia, expressed skepticism that the government has no specific plans, given that Abrego Garcia’s case is so “high profile.”

His family wants him returned to Prince George’s County, where he lived until being apprehended in March. The administration has acknowledged that his subsequent deportation to El Salvador and imprisonment there was an administrative error.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys fear that he could be deported to one country and then sent back to El Salvador, where he fears persecution. Giles said he couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t happen. “I don’t know what assurances we have. We just deport to ‘Country X,’ ” he said.

Xinis ordered the administration this week to “designate one or more individuals” to testify “regarding the legal bases for their intended detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and anticipated efforts to remove him to a third country.” The administration selected Giles.

Giles testified that Abrego Garcia would have the right to challenge a decision that sent him to a country he considered unsafe, which would then send the case to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and, perhaps, to an immigration judge for a final decision.

His supporters have seized on Abrego Garcia’s case as an example of the Trump administration’s disregard for immigrants’ rights and willingness to buck federal court orders. His mistaken deportation became a political flashpoint.

The administration has called Abrego Garcia a gang member and human trafficker who should not be set free in the United States.

He is accused in a federal indictment in Tennessee of being an MS-13 gang member who conspired  “to bring undocumented aliens to the United States from countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and elsewhere.”

Abrego Garcia, who has pleaded not guilty, faces a July 16 hearing in Tennessee next week that could decide the El Salvador native’s release from pre-trial custody.

If he is released from custody, Abrego Garcia would be detained — and it could be anywhere in the country — for as long as a few weeks before possibly being sent to a foreign country, Giles said. He said the government “would need to find bed space for the individual, and we don’t know where that is.”

Andrew Rossman, one of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, told Xinis on Monday that “we could be faced with the same set of circumstances that got us here in the first place: an illegal removal. The threat of removing Mr. Abrego again without due process is real.”

The Justice Department has said it would not deny Abrego Garcia his rights. “The removal of Abrego Garcia as challenged in the (wrongful deportation) complaint was an isolated mistake,” the department said in a brief last week.

Abrego Garcia was left for months in two El Salvador prisons while the Trump administration said it had no authority to bring him back from the sovereign nation. He was flown to Tennessee in June to face the smuggling-related charges.

Though he had come to the U.S. illegally as a teen,  a federal immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia a legal protective order in 2019 to prevent his removal to El Salvador, where he has said gangs threatened him.

That order is why government attorneys then considered sending him to a third country instead of El Salvador.

Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com or Dan Belson at dbelson@baltsun.com, on X as @DanBelson_ or on Signal as @danbels.62. 

U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen wrote in an order that “the court intends to hold a hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction during the week of August 11, 2025, in Baltimore.”

Trump’s Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security are seeking an injunction to block Maryland judges from abiding by a standing order preventing the administration from immediately deporting migrants who seek a review of their detention.

The standing order, signed by Chief Judge George L. Russell III, said the order pausing such deportations “shall be entered in every such case upon its filing.”

The administration has called the May order an example of judicial overreach. “This lawsuit involves yet another regrettable example of the unlawful use of equitable powers to restrain the Executive,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in June.

The dispute escalated tension between Trump and the federal judiciary, which has blocked several of his executive actions. Trump’s policies.”

“The judges have tried to seize the executive branch’s power, and they cannot do that,” she said. “No longer, no longer.”

Cullen, in his order on Monday for the Baltimore hearing, gave the Maryland judges two weeks to file a brief opposing the preliminary injunction request.

Although the case is in Maryland, Cullen — a judge from the Western District of Virginia — was assigned because a Maryland judge could not hear a case in which they were a party.

Cullen, a former U.S. attorney for Virginia, was nominated to the bench during Trump’s first term in 2019 and was easily confirmed by the Senate.

The judges have retained Paul Clement, who served as U.S. solicitor general under Republican former President George W. Bush, to represent them.

The Maryland court declined through a public information officer to respond to questions about the case, such as which entity is paying for Clement’s defense.

Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com.

“The plan currently is to remove him to a third country,” Jonathan Guynn, the attorney, told Maryland U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis.

The judge, expressing frustration at what she called the “chaos” surrounding the government’s plans for Abrego Garcia — who was mistakenly deported and imprisoned earlier this year, then returned to the United States — said she would like to hear additional testimony during a hearing at 1 p.m. Thursday to clarify the government’s “immediate next steps.”

To his defenders, including congressional Democrats, Abrego Garcia’s case has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s willingness to buck federal court orders. The administration has sued Maryland federal judges claiming they are overstepping their authority by blocking many executive actions.

Attorneys for Abrego Garcia told Xinis they fear he will be denied due process for a second time.

“In nine days, we could be faced with the same set of circumstances that got us here in the first place: an illegal removal,” Andrew Rossman, one of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, told the judge. “The threat of removing Mr. Abrego again without due process is real.”

Abrego Garcia worked as a sheet metal apprentice in Maryland until his deportation to El Salvador in March, due to an “administrative error,” according to the Trump administration. Though he had come to the U.S. illegally as a teen,  a federal immigration judge granted him a legal protective order in 2019 to prevent his removal to El Salvador, where he has said gangs threatened him.

That order is why government attorneys are now considering sending him to a third country instead of his native El Salvador.

Rossman said he was concerned about a July 16 court hearing in Nashville that could decide whether Abrego Garcia is released from federal custody pending a trial on charges he illegally smuggled hundreds of people throughout the U.S., including gang members, between 2016 and 2025. The charges are based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, during which law enforcement said Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle owned by a smuggler and carrying nine passengers who had no luggage.

Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his attorneys have said the case was manufactured to justify his being deported.

The Justice Department said it is too soon to know which third country Abrego Garcia could be sent to, or if that is definitely the plan.

“We don’t have a time and we don’t have a place,” Judge Xinis said. “It’s chaos.”

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys are seeking his return to Maryland, which “would be complete fulfillment of his rights,” Rossman told the judge.

Xinis berated the administration for earlier saying they lacked the power to return Abrego Garcia from El Salvador after the deportation mistake was announced, but then securing his release to Tennessee once he was indicted on the smuggling charges.

“It’s illogical. You had the power to produce him because you did produce him,” the judge said.

She declined the administration’s request to dismiss a wrongful deportation suit filed by Abrego Garcia.

Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin said last week that the department intends to try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before it moves to deport him, stating that Abrego Garcia “has been charged with horrific crimes, including trafficking children, and will not walk free in our country again.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com

The destinations included Bellagio on Italy’s Lake Como; Dublin; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Orlando, Florida.

The traveling members, sometimes accompanied by their wives, included Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, and Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican whose district includes Harford County, the Eastern Shore and a portion of Baltimore County. The members, who say the trips provide educational opportunities, did them as part of sanctioned congressional travel paid for by private parties. Under House and Senate rules, such travel is allowed as long as it’s not solicited by the member or sponsored by registered lobbyists or foreign agents.

While congressional rules permit such travel, the trips — which often include business-class airfare to exotic locations — “contribute to the lack of confidence people have in the folks that represent us,” said Todd Eberly, a political science professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. “No working man or woman is going to have a business spend $15,000 to send them halfway around the world,” Eberly said, for a conference that could be held in Washington for the price “of a cab ride.”

According to the documents, Van Hollen and his wife took trips to Italy and Ireland for seminars sponsored by The Aspen Institute, a nonprofit educational and research think tank that holds forums and conferences. The Aspen Institute also paid for Harris and his wife to travel to an Italy conference. The American Israel Education Foundation, which is affiliated with AIPAC — a pro-Israel lobbying group — paid for a Harris staff member to travel to Israel for briefings and discussions.

The J Street Education Fund, a nonprofit that says it seeks to “promote a nuanced understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” funded a trip to Israel for a staff member for Baltimore County Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat, to attend seminars. And the Conservative Partnership Institute paid for Harris and his wife to attend an Orlando conference of national conservative leaders.

“This is definitely a ‘benefit of being an elected public servant,'” said Roger Hartley, dean of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs. “Non-elected public servants don’t get to do this.”

The trips are considered educational, while also offering members the opportunity to travel to desirable locations with their spouses. The rules generally allow a spouse or other relative — but not both — to accompany a member, but specify that sponsors can pay only for necessary expenses, not entertainment.

The trip sponsors, Hartley said, “are getting a lot of time” with lawmakers. “The biggest thing you want is time to kind of shape their thinking,” he said.

The sponsors’ identities were contained in online disclosures designed to prevent potential conflicts of interest.

Privately funded trips must be approved in advance by the House or Senate. Such travel “used to be the wild west, but over time Congress tightened the rules to limit the potential for such trips to be mere junkets designed to curry favor with lawmakers,” said Hilary Braseth, executive director of OpenSecrets, a watchdog group.

These were the trips chronicled in the documents, according to The Sun’s review:

Trips to Italy and Ireland for Van Hollen and his wife

The Aspen Institute paid for Van Hollen and his wife to travel to Bellagio, Italy, from April 1 to 4, 2024, for $24,501, including business class airfare, hotel and meals. The airfare rose substantially, the disclosure form said, because the senator had to return two days earlier than planned for unspecified work reasons. The title of the conference was “Artificial Intelligence: The Promise and the Peril.”

The institute, which invites lawmakers from both parties to its conferences, also funded a trip from Aug. 10 to 15 for Van Hollen and his wife, which was split between Dublin and Belfast, at a cost of $20,529. The topic was Chinese and Russian foreign policy.

Van Hollen’s office told The Sun the trips “were bipartisan trips with a focus on discussing policy matters — specifically the challenges presented by China and Russia and the opportunities and threats posed by AI — among the members in attendance and issue area experts.”

Trip to Italy for Harris and wife

The Aspen Institute funded a $14,998 trip to Bellagio, Italy, from April 21 to 26 this year for Harris, with his wife, Nicole, who chairs the Maryland Republican Party. The topic was U.S. energy policy and competitiveness.

“The topic of energy/energy infrastructure is incredibly important at present, especially in my district, which has been subject to wildfires,” Harris wrote the House Ethics Committee in his authorization request. “I will learn firsthand how to help my district sustain energy even in the midst of extreme weather events.”

A Harris spokesperson did not respond to The Sun’s questions about his travel.

Israel trip for Olszewski staff member

The J Street Education Fund paid for a May 23 to 30 trip to Tel Aviv for Sean Naron, the chief of staff for Olszewski. The cost of transportation, lodging and meals was $6,795.

A spokesperson for Olszewski said the trip “provided key opportunities to strengthen ties with a global partner, meet with governmental and community leaders, and to have on-the-ground experience to help support ongoing efforts for regional stability and peace.”

Israel trip for Harris’ staff

The American Israel Education Foundation funded a Sept. 1 to 9, 2024, trip to Tel Aviv for Matthew Hutson, Harris’ chief of staff. The cost was $10,518 for transportation, plus $8,725 for lodging, meals and other expenses.

The foundation conducted seminars about Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship for senior congressional staff.

Orlando trip for Harris and his wife

The Conservative Partnership Institute paid for Harris and his wife to travel to Orlando in February for a conference of conservative leaders, many of whom were from the Trump administration and Congress.

Among the scheduled speakers or guests were Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan; Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar; and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Harris was also listed as a speaker during the Feb. 7 to 9 retreat at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando.

The trip cost $3,037. “The agenda helped me learn and converse with other members to better serve my constituents and the United States,” Harris wrote in a post-travel disclosure form.

Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com. 

The vote was 218-214. All seven Maryland Democrats voted against the measure along with every other House Democrat. Rep. Andy Harris, the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, voted for it, saying the White House allayed concerns about the growing budget deficit by promising future executive actions that he said would result in hundreds of billions of dollars in federal savings.

Only two Republicans overall opposed the bill — Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.

The measure was approved after a frustrated Trump sought to rally conservative holdouts, including  Harris, to his side, and after House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York held the floor for a record of more than eight hours Thursday morning, railing against a bill he called “immoral.” Jeffries cited faith and scripture, including Matthew 25:35, which reads: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.”

“FOR REPUBLICANS, THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY YES VOTE. RIDICULOUS!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday night. He ultimately won over enough deficit hawks who had complained the bill would worsen the national debt.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said the legislation would “make this country stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before, and every American is going to benefit.”

Jeffries pledged to fellow Democrats that “no matter what the outcome is on this singular day, we’re going to press on.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, called it “one of the worst bills for working families our country has ever seen.” All of Maryland’s Democratic House members opposed it and one, Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr., of Baltimore County, cited the case of a medically challenged 4-year-old constituent who he said relies on Medicaid funds that could be cut under the legislation.

Approval by the Republican-controlled House followed the measure’s 51-50 approval on Tuesday, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.

The measure, “One Big Beautiful Act,” which extends tax cuts from Trump’s first term and locks in many of his second-term domestic agenda items, now moves to his desk for his signature.

The legislation amounts to a “course correction” for the nation, providing tax relief for businesses, Rep. Addison McDowell, a North Carolina Republican, said on the House floor.

But Rep. Sarah Elfreth, a Maryland Democrat, said after the vote: “This is a really expensive bill that is still going to hurt people. We’re not borrowing to help people. We’re borrowing to hurt people and that’s really frustrating.” Her district includes Howard County and parts of Anne Arundel and Carroll counties.

Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Baltimore said the bill’s effects “will slowly start to be seen this time next year, with people being ripped off of Medicaid and Medicare and nursing homes not being able to take care of patients, particularly the elderly.”

And Mayor Brandon Scott called it “cruel reckless and deeply out of touch.”
The measure would impose new work requirements beginning in 2027 on some recipients of Medicaid, the health care program for low-income and disabled people.

It could have significant consequences for Maryland. The Senate’s version would implement changes to Medicaid that experts predict will cause roughly 11.8 million people nationally to lose healthcare.

Over 1.5 million people in Maryland are on Medicaid, according to the state Department of Health. It’s the largest source of federal funding to the state, receiving roughly $8.5 billion annually. Overall, 58% of the state’s total Medicaid budget is covered by the federal government.

Olszewski spoke against the bill Wednesday on the House floor alongside a photo of Amir Rich, a 4-year-old patient at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. Amir was born two months premature, weighing two pounds, and has faced serious medical challenges.

Amir’s family, Olszewski said, relied on “vital support systems” such as Medicaid. “The bill guts these lifelines,” Olszewski said.

But Republicans argued that the changes strengthen Medicaid for its original intended recipients.

The measure would impose new work requirements on some recipients of Medicaid, the health care program for low-income and disabled people.

“For able-bodied adults without kids, yes, you should be required to work,” Rep. Nick Langworthy, a New York Republican, said on the floor.

“We think that the things that we did, the changes that we made,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, were to “strengthen and improve Medicaid and make sure it delivers for the people for whom it was designed to deliver.”

Seven of Maryland’s eight House members and both of its senators are Democrats. Party leaders have called the bill heartless, and Moore said the Senate-passed measure “would deliver one of the most significant upward transfers of wealth in American history, and slash services that working people rely on in every corner of Maryland.”

Harris, the lone Maryland Republican in Congress and chair of the House Freedom Caucus, had previously called for deeper spending cuts during House negotiations.

With his vote uncertain, Harris and the Freedom Caucus were lobbied on X by Elon Musk, a longtime Trump supporter and former Department of Government Efficiency chief who has clashed with the president over the bill.

“How can you call yourself the Freedom Caucus if you vote for a DEBT SLAVERY bill with the biggest debt ceiling increase in history?” Musk posted on X. He called the post’s attention to Harris and Texas Rep. Chip Roy, a fellow deficit hawk who has criticized the Senate bill.

According to Harris, the White House ultimately compromised with the deficit hawks who were wary of projections that the bill would significantly increase the national debt. He said the conservative holdouts reached an agreement for future federal cost savings. That agreement, however, was not part of the bill.

“This kind of sidecar concept is exactly how we needed to address it,” Harris said after the vote. “The administration felt strongly, I think for good reason, that if we send this back over to the Senate, the Lisa Murkowskis over in the Senate were just going to make this even worse, in terms of its affect on the fiscal situation,” he added, referring to the Alaska Republican who received special provisions in the bill to win her vote.

The legislation also allocates billions for border security and the U.S. Department of Defense, while extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and creating new tax breaks for tips and overtime.

The House originally passed the bill at the end of May. The Senate made extensive changes to the House version, deepening the Medicaid cuts by adding the additional work requirement and limiting the provider tax rate, which provides hospitals with additional federal funding.

Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com and Ben Mause at bmause@baltsun.com.