A federal judge has ordered the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to transfer two transgender women back to federal women’s prisons after they were moved to men’s facilities under President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting transgender accommodations in the federal prison system. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued the preliminary injunction on Wednesday, ruling that the Bureau of Prisons must “immediately transfer” the two inmates—identified in court documents as Rachel and Ellen Doe—back to women’s facilities. The judge also mandated that the agency continue providing hormone therapy for gender dysphoria. The women argued in court that they were living in fear of sexual assault and violence after being placed in male prisons. They claimed that male inmates repeatedly propositioned them for sex and that male officers conducted strip searches without female officers present.

District judge orders DOJ to house men in women’s prisons. Judges are now appointing themselves as head of the Bureau of Prisons to nullify election results. https://t.co/ipv7V4b8Id

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) March 20, 2025

“The fact that they have already been transferred and, allegedly, have been abused at their new facilities can only strengthen their claims of irreparable harm,” Lamberth wrote in his ruling. The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on the order. This ruling is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the agency as it attempts to comply with Trump’s executive order, which mandates that transgender women be housed in men’s prisons and restricts gender-affirming medical care. Lamberth, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, has previously blocked the transfer of a dozen other transgender women to men’s facilities. In a previous ruling, Lamberth ordered that transgender inmates’ housing and medical care remain unchanged from what it was prior to Inauguration Day, when Trump signed the executive order. Additionally, in January, a federal judge in Boston halted the transfer of another transgender woman to a men’s prison. As of February 20, the Bureau of Prisons reported that 22 transgender women were housed in female facilities—approximately 1% of the nearly 2,200 transgender inmates in federal custody. Lamberth’s ruling on Wednesday raises the number of transgender inmates protected from transfer or medical restriction to at least 15.