Maryland

Maryland advocates, immigration lawyers rush to file cases before Trump is sworn in – Maryland Matters

Published

7 months ago

November 18, 2024

Maryland advocates, immigration lawyers rush to file cases before Trump is sworn in – Maryland Matters

Maricé Morales says her small law firm has been so busy working immigration cases since news of President-elect Donald Trump (R) returning to the White House that she’s looking to hire extra help.

“Everybody is really afraid,” Morales said in a recent interview. “And they’re wondering if they have a pending petition, if that is enough to protect themselves under the law, in front of a judge.”

That means the former Montgomery County delegate, the sole attorney in the Law Office of Maricé Morales, who works with four paralegals, is looking for extra hands to deal with the increased workload, as immigrants across the state look to shore up their documentation status in anticipation of a hostile Trump-administration.

Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail that he will begin a mass deportation effort on his first day of his presidency. His nominations since the election of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Holman as a White House “border czar” have only increased the likelihood he will hold true that promise.

Immigration attorneys and immigrant advocates looking for every available avenue to keep as many Maryland immigrants as possible in the state. According to CASA, an immigrant advocacy organization, there are around 300,000 undocumented residents in Maryland. Other organizations, like the Migration Policy Institute, put the number at 225,000 in the state.

Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA, spoke at a rally in Annapolis in March 2023. Photo by Bryan P. Sears.

“They are very devastated, very scared,” said Gustavo Torres, Executive Director of CASA, of undocumented residents in Maryland. “They are concerned about what will happen with their family. But at the same time, they are ready to fight back, meaning they are ready to do whatever it takes to protect their rights.”

He said that CASA is working on outreach, including a “Know Your Rights” educational campaign to help migrants navigate the complicated immigration system and connect them with resources.

Torres and immigration lawyers in the state say a lot of protection for undocumented immigrants and those under certain immigration programs will come from the court system.

Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations with American Immigration Lawyers Association, said that lawyers are working to get as many immigration cases filed as possible before Trump takes office on Jan. 20, 2025.

“Trump has promised a lot of things on immigration that can be very scary. A lot of our members are focused on trying to get as many filings in now as they can,” she said. “Many of our members know what happened in the first Trump administration, that litigation became such a key tool in their arsenal to get their clients cases approved or even to challenge those policies.

“The positive is that we all went through a Trump 1.0 administration, so we know what policies they enacted and will then likely bring back,” she said.

That said, Dalal-Dheini noted that Trump’s administration is likely to be more successful this term, as he will be building off of his previous experience from his last presidency that ended in 2020.

Trump rapidly unveils appointments to Cabinet, staff posts in dizzying post-election week

According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a federal records database maintained by Syracuse University, there were 57,395 pending immigration cases in Maryland as of October, a fraction of the 3.7 million cases nationwide. According to Morales, those 57,000 people are more protected from deportation due to the fact that they have a case open in court.

“As long as you’re within the court system, you have the guarantee that your rights will be protected,” Morales said.

Both Morales and Dalal-Dheini said that Maryland tends to be more immigrant-friendly than other states.

“We’re also in a much more diverse and open-minded and immigrant-friendly community,” Dalal-Dheini said. “Like our leadership in Maryland has always valued what immigrants bring to our country, regardless of whether they are documented or not.”

DACA and TPS in question

Still, immigration attorneys and advocates fear that a Trump presidency may also affect the roughly 7,000 residents who are in the state under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and the estimated 22,000 to 27,000 residents who have been given Temporary Protective Status (TPS).

DACA residents, sometimes called Dreamers, are undocumented immigrants who are protected from deportation because they were brought to the U.S. as children. Those with TPS have been granted temporary immigration status to stay in the U.S. because of a natural disaster or an ongoing conflict that makes it unsafe for them to return their home country.

Both categories are lawfully present, but advocates fear it is just a matter of time before the Trump administration tries to disrupt those programs.

“The Trump administration has used rhetoric that would call people who are here legally — on temporary protective status or DACA or parole, they’re allowed to be here and live here legally — they now try to refer to those individuals as illegal,” Dalal-Dheini. “So, this sense of fear in the immigrant community … I think that’s the biggest problem, that people are going to be looking over their shoulder all the time.”

Thousands of immigrants in Maryland could be deported if Trump carries through on the mass deportation plans he campaigned on.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

“People will be disappearing,” Morales said. “You’ll go to the grocery store and you won’t see workers, or go to your favorite restaurant and you won’t see people … kids in your kid’s classrooms who won’t be there anymore.”

Dalal-Dheini advises that immigrants and concerned residents get in contact with a lawyer to see what their options are.

“They should definitely consult with an attorney to see if there are things that they could do to further protect themselves,” she said.

“I think it will be really important to try to normalize your status, if you are able to change to some kind of more permanent status,” Dalal-Dheini said. “Immigrants should, knowing that there’s this deportation, that people should have emergency plans in place.”

Source link

Click to comment

Maryland

York County man killed in three-vehicle crash in Maryland

Published

6 hours ago

June 7, 2025

Press Room

A Spring Grove man was killed in a three-vehicle crash Friday morning in Maryland.

According to a Maryland State Police statement, Nicholas Standiford, 25, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred around 7:48 a.m. on the Hampstead Bypass, or Maryland Route 30, in Carroll County, Maryland.

Standiford was the driver of a Chevrolet pickup truck that was involved in the crash.

Maryland State Police said a preliminary investigation showed that a Ford pickup truck was traveling south on Maryland Route 30 when, for unknown reasons, it traveled into the northbound lanes, striking a Chevrolet dump truck. That collision caused the dump truck to strike the Chevrolet pickup truck.

A passenger in the Chevrolet dump truck, whose identification is being withheld pending next of kin notification, was pronounced dead after being transported by ambulance to Carroll Hospital Center.

The driver and another passenger in the dump truck and the driver of the Ford pickup truck were flown by Maryland State Police Aviation Command to a hospital for treatment of their injuries. Their conditions were not immediately known.

Lanes on Maryland Route 30 were closed for approximately five hours while the investigation into the crash was being conducted, police said.

Maryland State Police stated that the investigation into the crash is ongoing.

>> Please consider subscribing to support local journalism.

Source link

Maryland

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported to El Salvador, is back in the U.S. to face smuggling charges

Published

1 day ago

June 6, 2025

Press Room

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported to El Salvador, is back in the U.S. to face smuggling charges

Jennifer Vasquez Sura speaks during an April 4 news conference at CASA’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., after her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

Jose Luis Magana/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Jose Luis Magana/AP

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man at the center of a bitter, months-long political and legal fight after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, has been returned to the United States to face criminal charges, according to an indictment announced Friday.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his return and the indictment at a press conference at the Department of Justice.

“This is what American justice looks like,” Bondi said.

She thanked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for agreeing to send Abrego Garcia back

In recorded calls, reports of overcrowding and lack of food at ICE detention centers

Bondi told reporters that a federal grand jury indicted Abrego Garcia on May 21 in Tennessee over allegations he conspired to transport thousands of migrants without legal status from Texas across the U.S. between 2016-2025. The two-count indictment accuses Abrego Garcia “of conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain” and “unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.”

Bondi says Abrego Garcia will face trial in the U.S. on these charges and, if found guilty, will serve time in a U.S. prison before being deported back to El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney said they’re going to keep fighting to get him a fair trial. “Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they’re bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him. This shows that they were playing games with the court all along,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told NPR. “Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice.”

A Salvadoran native who had been living with his wife and children in Maryland, Abrego Garcia was deported in March to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration admitted that it had deported Abrego Garcia due to an “administrative error,” but later defended the move, claiming he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13. His wife and attorneys deny that.

The 10-page criminal indictment unsealed today alleges that Abrego Garcia is “a member and associate of the transnational criminal organization, La Mara Salvatrucha, otherwise known… as MS-13.” The indictment also details that he participated in more than 100 trips smuggling individuals from Texas to Maryland, including unaccompanied minors and alleged members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.

Abrego Garcia’s deportation case has become a bedrock for both the Trump administration and immigration advocates as the push to streamline deportations undercuts key elements of due process.

After the announcement of Abrego Garcia’s return, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the indictment “proves the unhinged Democrat Party was wrong, and their stenographers in the Fake News Media were once again played like fools,” adding that the administration would “continue to hold criminals accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

It’s been nearly three months since the father of three children was pulled over in his car by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and ended up imprisoned in El Salvador. Abrego Garcia was arrested on March 12 on his way home from work in Baltimore. He was deported a few days later, along with more than 230 other immigrants, and housed at CECOT. By April 20, according to court documents, Abrego Garcia had been moved to a lower security Salvadoran prison.

Abrego Garcia, who had arrived unlawfully in the U.S., when he was a teenager, had received protection from removal to El Salvador in 2019 by an immigration judge. That protection, known as withholding of removal, had never been challenged by government officials.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, speaks with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., in a hotel restaurant in San Salvador on April 17.

Press Office Senator Van Hollen/via AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Press Office Senator Van Hollen/via AP

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland has overseen the months-long legal case over the deportation of Abrego Garcia. Xinis, an Obama-appointed judge, last month ordered the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return. The Justice Department repeatedly invoked the state secrets privilege in federal court to withhold information related to three deportation flights to El Salvador, one of which Abrego Garcia was on.

In a 9-0 ruling issued on April 10, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the government “must facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia. But the administration refused to bring him back and Salvadoran President Bukele also said he would not release him. . Notably, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., traveled to El Salvador in late April to seek Abrego Garcia’s release. Several other Democrats made their own trips, arguing that the Trump administration was violating due process.

Federal prosecutors have requested that Abrego Garcia be held in “pre-trial custody because he poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight.”

Source link

Maryland

Maryland Lottery Pick 3, Pick 4 results for June 5, 2025

Published

2 days ago

June 6, 2025

Press Room

Maryland Lottery Pick 3, Pick 4 results for June 5, 2025

The Maryland Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at June 5, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Pick 3 numbers from June 5 drawing

Midday: 0-4-1

Evening: 9-7-3

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from June 5 drawing

Midday: 1-7-8-5

Evening: 0-7-7-3

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 5 numbers from June 5 drawing

Midday: 1-4-6-7-4

Evening: 4-9-1-2-2

Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash4Life numbers from June 5 drawing

06-08-22-34-59, Cash Ball: 02

Check Cash4Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash Pop numbers from June 5 drawing

9 a.m.: 12

1 p.m.: 14

6 p.m.: 04

11 p.m.: 11

Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Bonus Match 5 numbers from June 5 drawing

07-10-31-33-38, Bonus: 26

Check Bonus Match 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning MultiMatch numbers from June 5 drawing

04-28-30-32-33-37

Check MultiMatch payouts and previous drawings here.

Keno

Drawings are held every four minutes. Check winning numbers here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

Maryland Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes above $600, winners can claim by mail or in person from the Maryland Lottery office, an Expanded Cashing Authority Program location or cashiers’ windows at Maryland casinos. Prizes over $5,000 must be claimed in person.

Claiming by Mail

Sign your winning ticket and complete a claim form. Include a photocopy of a valid government-issued ID and a copy of a document that shows proof of your Social Security number or Federal Tax ID number. Mail these to:

Maryland Lottery Customer Resource Center

1800 Washington Boulevard

Suite 330

Baltimore, MD 21230

For prizes over $600, bring your signed ticket, a government-issued photo ID, and proof of your Social Security or Federal Tax ID number to Maryland Lottery headquarters, 1800 Washington Boulevard, Baltimore, MD. Claims are by appointment only, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This location handles all prize amounts, including prizes over $5,000.

Winning Tickets Worth $25,000 or Less

Maryland Lottery headquarters and select Maryland casinos can redeem winning tickets valued up to $25,000. Note that casinos cannot cash prizes over $600 for non-resident and resident aliens (tax ID beginning with “9”). You must be at least 21 years of age to enter a Maryland casino. Locations include:

Horseshoe Casino: 1525 Russell Street, Baltimore, MD
MGM National Harbor: 101 MGM National Avenue, Oxon Hill, MD
Live! Casino: 7002 Arundel Mills Circle, Hanover, MD
Ocean Downs Casino: 10218 Racetrack Road, Berlin, MD
Hollywood Casino: 1201 Chesapeake Overlook Parkway, Perryville, MD
Rocky Gap Casino: 16701 Lakeview Road NE, Flintstone, MD

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Maryland Lottery.

When are the Maryland Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 11 p.m. ET Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 11 p.m. ET Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 3, Pick 4 and Pick 5 Midday: 12:27 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, 12:28 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday.
Pick 3, 4 and 5 Evening: 7:56 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday, 8:10 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Cash4Life: 9 p.m. ET daily.
Cash Pop: 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. daily.
Bonus Match 5: 7:56 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday, 8:10 p.m. ET on Sunday.
MultiMatch: 7:56 p.m. Monday and Thursday.
Powerball Double Play: 11 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Maryland editor. You can send feedback using this form.

Source link