Court
D. Colo.
Decided
September 18, 2026
Docket
1:26-cv-02908-RMR (ECF No. 30)
Judge
Regina M. Rodriguez, District Judge.
Outcome
Relief granted
Disposition
Motion for transfer back to the District of Colorado granted, and the respondents ordered “to transfer Petitioner from Central African Republic back to the District of Colorado”. Petition for a writ of habeas corpus granted. Once he is back, immediate release on his own recognizance “without onerous conditions of release, including, without limitation, GPS monitoring, mandatory reporting, or other restrictions on his movement”; re-arrest or re-detention barred unless the respondents show “by clear and convincing evidence at a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral decisionmaker” that he is a flight risk or a danger; no removal or transfer from the District of Colorado while he is in custody; a status report certifying compliance due on 25 September 2026.
Nationality
Honduras. On 20 August 2020 an immigration judge denied his asylum application, ordered him removed to Honduras under section 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and granted protection under the Convention Against Torture “with respect to Honduras.” He had lived in the United States since 2016.
Third country
Central African Republic. He was removed there after filing his petition, having first been moved from Colorado to immigration detention in Arizona on 26 July 2026. He told the court, as the order puts it, “that the circumstances in the Central African Republic are dangerous and that he cannot speak the language.”
The petitioner, detained by ICE since 13 May 2026, filed a habeas petition on his own on 29 June 2026. On 28 July a magistrate judge ordered the respondents to show cause and not to remove him from the District of Colorado; the respondents said they had moved him to detention in Arizona on 26 July, before that order. He was later removed to the Central African Republic. The respondents at first stated that they were “not submitting a brief in opposition to the Petition detailing the facts and circumstances of this case”. Their position was that “[a]lthough an Immigration Judge … granted Petitioner protection under the Convention Against Torture … with respect to Honduras, that protection did not invalidate the removal order or prohibit removal to a third country.”
Quoting Pacheco v. Baltazar (D. Colo. 5 May 2026), the court held that “[a]ll removals to third countries … must be preceded by written notice to both the non-citizen and the non-citizen’s counsel in a language the non-citizen can understand.” It noted that his removal order of 20 August 2020 “was nearly six years old before he was detained”, that he had lived in the United States since 2016, and that “the record reflects that Petitioner was not afforded notice or opportunity to challenge his removal to the Central African Republic.” It found “that Petitioner has demonstrated that Respondents have violated his right to due process.”
Caution
An order on a petition filed without a lawyer, made after the removal. The respondents had at first declined to oppose the petition on its facts; they then moved to withdraw that response and to have the petition denied as moot (ECF No. 19), which the order denied as moot. The court did not decide whether removal to a third country is lawful where notice is given.
On 25 September 2026, the date set for the status report certifying compliance, the respondents moved for reconsideration (ECF No. 34), and on 7 October they filed a notice of supplemental authorities (ECF No. 37). The docket shows no ruling on that motion as of 7 November 2026. Represented by counsel from 15 September 2026, the petitioner filed an amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus and complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief on 29 October 2026 (ECF No. 42), and the respondents’ time to respond was extended to 12 November 2026. Whether he has been returned to the United States has not been reported in the sources read.
The order cites Pacheco v. Baltazar (D. Colo. 5 May 2026) as 2026 WL 1223414 and, a page later, as 2026 WL 1453640.
Third-country removal
Notice
Due process
CAT
Facilitation of return
Transfer of detainees
Release from custody
Redetention
Bond hearing
The court's own text
Public copy
Read from the public federal court record. The later docket entries were read on CourtListener on 7 November 2026.
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