Court
S.D. Tex.
Decided
May 20, 2026
Docket
5:26-cv-00070 (ECF No. 30)
Judge
Diana Saldaña, District Judge.
Outcome
Interim relief granted
Disposition
Preliminary injunction of 13 February 2026 reiterated as remaining in effect while the government’s motion to reconsider was under advisement. Respondents prohibited from removing the petitioner to Cameroon without at least ten days’ notice and an opportunity to reopen her removal proceedings to seek fear-based protection as to Cameroon. Respondents ordered to confirm by noon on 21 May 2026 that they had received the order and intended to comply.
Nationality
Native and citizen of Mauritania, holding withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture as to Mauritania (as recorded in the court’s memorandum and order of 13 February 2026).
Third country
Cameroon
After the preliminary injunction of 13 February 2026, which arose from a planned removal to Equatorial Guinea, the government moved for reconsideration. On 19 May 2026 it filed a supplement informing the court that it had “new evidence that the Department of Homeland Security now intends to remove Petitioner to Cameroon on May 26, 2026.”
The court issued the order “to reiterate that the preliminary injunction issued by the Court on February 13, 2026, (Dkt. 23), REMAINS IN EFFECT” while the motion to reconsider was under advisement, and restated its terms: no transfer outside the judicial district and no removal to any third country unless the government gives at least ten days’ notice of the proposed country of removal and an opportunity to reopen the removal proceedings to seek fear-based protection as to that country.
It then applied those terms to Cameroon: “Therefore, Respondents are PROHIBITED from removing Petitioner to Cameroon absent at least (10) days’ notice and an opportunity for Petitioner to re-open her removal proceedings to seek fear-based protections as to Cameroon.”
Caution
An order keeping a preliminary injunction in force, not a ruling on the merits. The government’s motion to reconsider was still under advisement; no ruling on it was read.
The injunction no longer operates. On 21 July 2026 the petitioner and the federal respondents filed a self-effectuating joint stipulation of dismissal, which notified the court that the case was dismissed without prejudice as moot, and on 24 July 2026 the court directed the clerk to terminate the case (ECF No. 34). The documents read do not say why the case became moot.
The memorandum and order of 13 February 2026, on the planned removal to Equatorial Guinea, is recorded separately in this register.
Third-country removal
Notice
Reopened removal proceedings
Withholding of removal
CAT deferral
Transfer out of district
Preliminary injunction
The court's own text
Public copy
Read from the public federal court record.
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