Decisions

E.D. Cal. September 1, 2026 Investigating. No reporter citation established. Third country: Mexico

The district judge adopted the findings in part and granted the petition. The court assumed the more demanding Zadvydas standard applied, because the record did not make clear whether the re-detention rested only on changed circumstances or also on violations of the order of supervision. On that assumption the petitioner had shown no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future: the government produced no evidence that Mexico had formally accepted him, and removal to Mexico under the informal arrangement depends on the person’s consent, which he had refused on five occasions. Immediate release was ordered, and re-detention under 8 C.F.R. 241.13(i)(2) was enjoined unless there are material changed circumstances and a neutral decisionmaker finds a significant likelihood of removal.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Third-country designation Due process Pre-deprivation hearing

Caution The injunction against third-country removal that the magistrate judge had recommended was refused as premature, the court finding nothing in the record to suggest removal to any country other than Mexico was contemplated. A footnote preserves the government’s ability to re-detain for a further six months under 8 C.F.R. 241.13(i)(1) if the conditions of release are violated. The court noted concerns about the petitioner’s criminal history but held that Ninth Circuit authority directed release on conditions. Unpublished; no reporter citation established. The order cites the findings and recommendations as Document 32 where the docket shows Document 13.

E.D. Cal. August 28, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 2547035 Third country: Mexico

The magistrate judge recommended granting the petition, finding nothing in the record to show that ICE gave the required informal interview on revoking the order of supervision, and that the government failed to carry its burden of changed circumstances because removal to Mexico under the standing arrangement depends on consent, which he refused at every service. She recommended release, a hearing before any re-detention, and an injunction barring third-country removal without fourteen days’ notice and an immigration judge hearing.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Third-country designation Notice Due process Pre-deprivation hearing

Caution This is a findings and recommendation, not a decision of the court, and as of 7 September 2026 no order adopting or rejecting it had issued. It should not be cited as a final holding. Unpublished slip copy. It issued before the petitioner’s reply deadline had run and on an untimely government response, and the court expressly declined to reach his other claims. The petitioner is self-represented. His criminal history was acknowledged and held not to justify continued detention, a point a reviewing judge could weigh differently.

E.D. Cal. August 27, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 2532065 Third country: Mexico

The magistrate judge recommended granting the petition, finding that ICE revoked the order of supervision without the informal interview the regulations require, and failed to show changed circumstances making removal reasonably foreseeable, because removal to Mexico under the standing arrangement depends on the person’s consent, which he had repeatedly refused. She recommended release, a hearing before any re-detention, and an injunction barring third-country removal without fourteen days’ notice and an immigration judge hearing.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Third-country designation Notice Due process Reasonable fear Pre-deprivation hearing

Caution This is a findings and recommendation by a magistrate judge, not a decision of the court. It was adopted in part by the district judge on 1 September 2026, who granted the petition and ordered immediate release, but refused as premature the recommended injunction against third-country removal. That order is the court’s final position and has its own entry in this register. Unpublished slip copy. The third-country analysis is largely a block quotation of A.A.M. v. Andrews, so the language about a full and fair hearing before a neutral adjudicator is A.A.M.’s, not this court’s.

C.D. Cal. August 19, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 2434858 Third country: Mexico; a screening notice of 1 June 2026 recorded a finding that he had established it is more likely than not he would be persecuted in Mexico

The court held the petitioner was not subject to mandatory detention, his theft charge having been dismissed on completion of diversion, and that re-detaining him and revoking his order of supervision without a pre-deprivation hearing violated procedural due process. It ordered immediate release and entered a limited permanent injunction requiring seven days’ notice and a bond hearing before any re-detention, written notice and reopened proceedings before any third-country removal, and barring removal to Mexico outright.

Redetention Pre-deprivation hearing Due process Third-country designation Notice Withholding of removal Credible fear

Caution Unpublished slip copy. A final decision on the parties’ consent to a magistrate judge, not a recommendation, so no district-judge adoption was required. No subsequent history appears as of 7 September 2026. The court resolved the case on procedural due process and did not adjudicate the grounds concerning flight risk or conditions of detention, did not apply the substantive due process standards it set out, and did not reach an indefinite-detention analysis. The printed text contains an apparent drafting error describing removal to a country other than Cuba, which is language from a cited case and not this petitioner, and an inconsistent docket reference to the screening notice.

C.D. Cal. August 17, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 2395216 Third country: Mexico

The court granted the petition, holding that re-detaining a person who had complied with an order of supervision since 2018, at a scheduled check-in and without notice or a hearing, violated procedural due process, and ordered her immediate release. It entered a limited permanent injunction requiring at least seven days’ notice and a hearing before an immigration judge before any re-detention, and written notice and a meaningful opportunity to respond in reopened proceedings before any attempt to remove her to a country other than Guatemala.

Redetention Due process Notice Third-country designation Withholding of removal CAT

Caution Unpublished slip copy. Decided by a magistrate judge on the parties’ full consent, so unlike the recommendations in this collection it is a final and appealable judgment. As of 7 September 2026 no subsequent history appeared, but the decision is recent enough that the appeal window and any post-judgment motions may still be open. The printed text carries several original typographical errors.

M.D. Fla. July 14, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 2034638 Third country: Eswatini

The court found a likelihood of success on the procedural due process claim where the plaintiff’s scheduled reasonable fear interview was cancelled, the defendants declined to reschedule it, and he was being prepared for transport to Eswatini, a country where he had submitted evidence that as a gay man he faced a risk of persecution. It restrained any step toward removing him to Eswatini until further order.

Third-country designation Reasonable fear CAT Due process Withholding of removal

Caution Unpublished slip copy. An ex parte temporary restraining order, granted in part and deferred in part: the request to compel a reasonable fear interview was deferred to a preliminary injunction hearing set for 20 July 2026, whose outcome is not in this document. The allegations of the verified complaint were taken as true for the purposes of the order. A parallel habeas proceeding exists in which an order requiring release is described as now vacated.

E.D. Cal. July 10, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 1999108 Third country: None identified; the third-country analysis is general and no destination was named

The magistrate judge recommended granting the petition, finding detention had passed the presumptively reasonable six months with no significant likelihood of removal, and that ICE revoked release without the notice and prompt informal interview the regulations require. He recommended release, an injunction against re-detention absent strict compliance, and an injunction against third-country removal without at least ten days’ notice and a meaningful opportunity to raise a fear-based claim before an immigration judge.

Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Redetention Due process Third-country designation Notice CAT

Caution This is a findings and recommendation, not a decision of the court, issued with a shortened seven-day objection period. It was ADOPTED IN PART AND REJECTED IN PART by the district judge on 21 July 2026, so parts of what is recommended here do not stand; the 21 July order must be read before this is relied on. Unpublished slip copy. The magistrate judge expressly declined to reach the claim that the detention hearing was constitutionally inadequate.

S.D. Tex. June 12, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 1999306 Third country: Cameroon

The court held that the jurisdiction-stripping provisions do not bar habeas, because challenging the designation of a third country never named in the removal order is not a challenge to the execution of that order, and that the petitioner was substantially likely to succeed on her claim that generalised diplomatic assurances from Cameroon cannot substitute for individualised notice and an evidentiary hearing. It entered a preliminary injunction barring removal to any third country until at least ten days’ notice of the proposed country and an individualised hearing before an immigration judge.

Third-country designation Notice Withholding of removal CAT Due process Jurisdiction Diplomatic assurances Chain refoulement

Caution Unpublished slip copy. A preliminary injunction resting on likelihood of success, not a final merits judgment, effective until modified or superseded. The court cautioned that the law in this area is developing rapidly and said it may reconsider the order in light of new developments. It refused one request, declining to order the government itself to move to reopen the immigration proceedings, and declined to consider the status of the petitioner’s motion to reconsider in the immigration court. It treated the Supreme Court’s emergency stay in D.V.D. as not a merits holding. No subsequent history appears as of 7 September 2026.

D. Colo. June 10, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 1678205 Third country: Cameroon; ICE had earlier sought acceptance from Libya, Tanzania and Lebanon, and had arranged a flight toward Equatorial Guinea

The court refused immediate release and a bond hearing, holding that the petitioner’s own refusal to board his flight made him the impediment to removal. It granted relief in part, ordering that notwithstanding Cameroon’s diplomatic assurances he receive written notice in a language he understands, and at least ten days and a hearing before an immigration judge to raise a fear-based claim, before removal to Cameroon or any other third country.

Third-country designation Notice Due process Diplomatic assurances Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Jurisdiction Class action

Caution Unpublished slip copy. The petitioner was self-represented and the application was liberally construed. The order rests on Pacheco v. Baltazar and on A.A.M. v. Andrews, and presumes familiarity with an earlier related habeas case. Respondents were ordered to file a status report within five days of the hearing, so the operative outcome post-dates this order.

C.D. Cal. May 26, 2026 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115713; 2026 WL 1471864

The court adjudged the revocation of the order of supervision and the re-detention unlawful and permanently enjoined re-detention without an individualized pre-detention hearing before a neutral arbiter and third-country removal without notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Redetention Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral

Caution Entered over objections after de novo review of a magistrate judge's report that is not in the supplied file, so the reasoning behind the 'neutral arbiter' requirement has not been read; the brief notes these requirements go further than any other order in the collection.

N.D. Cal. May 14, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 1915726 Third country: Saint Kitts and Nevis

The court granted a preliminary injunction barring removal to Saint Kitts and Nevis, or any other country not designated on the removal order, unless the petitioner is first given notice and an opportunity to pursue fear-based protection, and barring re-detention without notice and a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. It held that the jurisdiction-stripping provisions did not apply because he challenges the manner of his detention and removal rather than the removal order, and declined to treat the March 2025 policy memorandum or the State Department’s credibility finding on Saint Kitts’ diplomatic assurances as displacing binding circuit precedent on due process.

Third-country designation Notice Withholding of removal CAT Redetention Due process Jurisdiction Diplomatic assurances

Caution A preliminary injunction, resting on likelihood of success and not a final merits ruling; the habeas petition remains pending and the order runs until further order of the court. Unpublished slip copy. An APPEAL WAS FILED IN THE NINTH CIRCUIT ON 14 JULY 2026, so its status should be checked before reliance. The court expressly declined to weigh the evidence about conditions faced by third-country deportees, and did not reach the substantive due process claim.

E.D. Cal. April 27, 2026 Slip Copy; 2026 WL 1133268 Third country: None identified; the government said it was pursuing removal to China, but the court reached the third-country claim because ICE was operating under its third-country removal policy

The magistrate judge recommended granting the petition on the claims that re-detention breached the changed-circumstances requirement and amounted to unconstitutionally indefinite detention, China having repeatedly declined to issue travel documents, and that an earlier preliminary injunction be made permanent. Reaching the third-country claim, she recommended barring any third-country removal without twenty-one days’ written notice in a language the petitioner understands, at least ten days to raise a fear-based claim, a government motion to reopen if reasonable fear is shown, and at least fifteen days to seek reopening if it is not.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Due process Third-country designation Notice Reasonable fear CAT Jurisdiction

Caution This is a findings and recommendation, not a decision of the court, with a seven-day objection period. As of 7 September 2026 no order adopting it appeared, so the docket should be checked before it is treated as operative. Unpublished slip copy. The detention holdings are not independent analysis: the magistrate judge rests on the district judge’s earlier preliminary injunction reasoning because the evidentiary record had not changed. Three of the claims were not reached. The printed text repeatedly miscites the governing regulation.

E.D. Cal. March 27, 2026 832 F. Supp. 3d 1071; 2026 WL 849579 Third country: Mexico

The court granted a temporary restraining order in full, finding the petitioner likely to succeed both on her claim that ICE revoked her release without the changed-circumstances determination required by 8 C.F.R. section 241.13(i)(2), there being no evidence that travel documents had been sought or that Mexico had agreed to accept her, and on her due process claim that she could not be removed to Mexico without notice and an opportunity to present a fear-based claim to a neutral adjudicator.

Redetention Third-country designation Notice Due process CAT Withholding of removal

Caution Interim relief on a likelihood-of-success standard, not a final ruling; the matter was referred onward to the assigned magistrate judge. The court expressly rejected part of the petitioner’s regulatory argument, finding she had not shown a failure to comply with the notice and informal-interview requirements; relief rested on section 241.13(i)(2) alone. The opinion contains two apparent typographical date errors.

1st Cir. March 16, 2026

The court granted the government’s emergency motion for a stay pending appeal of the district court’s 25 February 2026 judgment setting aside the third-country removal policy, so that the judgment does not take effect while the appeal proceeds. Judge Montecalvo would have denied the stay. The order sets an expedited briefing schedule and directs the parties to address two questions: the significance of 8 U.S.C. § 1252(e) for the government’s contention that the district court lacked authority to set aside the March 2025 guidance, and whether the appeal as to class members ineligible for statutory withholding under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3) can be resolved without reaching procedural due process under the Fifth Amendment. The court stated it intends to hold oral argument soon after briefing.

Notice Third-country designation Class relief Jurisdiction Stay pending appeal

Caution A stay order, not a decision on the merits. It leaves the district court’s reasoning intact but unenforceable while the appeal is pending. The appeal remained live as of 1 September 2026, when the appellees filed a citation of supplemental authorities under Fed. R. App. P. 28(j). The First Circuit dissolved this stay on 23 September 2026, after largely affirming the judgment on 18 September 2026. The Supreme Court then stayed the judgment on 29 September 2026.

C.D. Cal. February 26, 2026

Granting a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to a petitioner who filed pro se, the court ordered Respondents “to immediately release Petitioner from custody and restore him to the status quo prior to his detention by reinstating his supervision,” and enjoined them “from removing Petitioner to Mexico or any third country or transferring him from the Central District of California pending adjudication of his Petition.” The court applied 8 C.F.R. § 241.13(i)(2), under which ICE may re-detain a person released on an order of supervision only “if, on account of changed circumstances, [ICE] determines that there is a significant likelihood that the alien may be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future,” and § 241.13(i)(3), which requires that the person “be notified of the reasons for revocation of his or her release” and be given an initial informal interview promptly after return to custody. The notice given here said only that “there are changed circumstances in your case.” The court found that the petitioner could not be expected to “respond to the reasons for revocation stated in the notification” when the notice stated no reasons. Respondents did not contest the allegations, stating: “At this time, Respondents do not have an opposition argument to present.” The bond requirement was waived.

Order of supervision Revocation Redetention Third-country designation Notice

Caution An unreported district court order. The petitioner is a Mexican national who had been on an order of supervision; the order records prior arrests and convictions, which are not summarised here. The court cited Roble v. Bondi, Chavez Barrios v. Ripa, Nguyen v. Hyde, Tran v. Baker, Zadori v. Noem and Diaz v. Kaiser; the first two are registered separately in this collection and the remainder are not, because they have not been read directly.

D. Mass. February 25, 2026 2026 WL 521557

Granting the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment as to Counts I and IV, dissolving the April 18, 2025 preliminary injunction, and dismissing Counts II, III, V and VI, the court declared the third-country removal policy unlawful and set it aside. The policy is identified as DHS’s memorandum of 30 March 2025, “Guidance Regarding Third Country Removals,” and ICE’s memorandum of 9 July 2025 issued after the Supreme Court’s stay. The court also declared that 8 C.F.R. § 1240.12(d) and 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b) require the government to seek removal to a class member’s designated country, alternative country, or country of citizenship before effecting removal to a third country, and that class members have the right to meaningful notice before removal to any third country and to a meaningful opportunity to raise a country-specific claim before it. The opinion opens: “This case is about whether the Government may, without notice, deport a person to the wrong country, or a country where he is likely to be persecuted, or tortured, thereby depriving that person of the opportunity to seek protections to which he would be undisputedly entitled.” On the assurances the policy relies on: “nobody really knows anything about these purported ‘assurances.’ Whom do they cover? What do they cover? Why has the Government deemed them credible? How can anyone even know for certain that they exist?”

Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Class relief Diplomatic assurances Statutory sequence

Caution The judgment was stayed by its own terms “until fifteen days from date of issuance or until the First Circuit rules on any motion for an administrative stay or stay pending appeal, whichever occurs first.” The First Circuit granted the government a stay pending appeal on 16 March 2026, over the dissent of Judge Montecalvo; that order is registered separately. The class is defined in the judgment as those with a final removal order under INA sections 240, 241(a)(5) or 238(b), including withholding-only proceedings, whom DHS has deported or will deport on or after 18 February 2025 to a country not previously designated and not identified in writing in the prior proceedings. The First Circuit largely affirmed the judgment on 18 September 2026 (No. 26-1212) and dissolved its stay pending appeal on 23 September 2026. On 29 September 2026 the Supreme Court stayed the order and judgment and granted certiorari (No. 26-426), with argument set for December 2026; Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson would have denied the stay. That order is registered separately.

D. Mass. February 6, 2026

A Rwandan citizen was ordered removed on 26 March 2025, but the immigration judge “also found that Petitioner’s life or freedom would be threatened should he be returned to Rwanda and restricted his removal, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3).” The court records what happened next: “Subsequently, ICE attempted to remove Petitioner to several ‘third countries,’ none of which would accept him.” After more than ten months beyond the effective date of the removal order, and more than a year in detention overall, the court granted the writ, finding the petitioner had shown no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future under Zadvydas v. Davis and that “Respondents have failed to respond with any contrary evidence.” It ordered him transported to Maine and released on an order of supervision under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1231(a)(3) and (6), and declined to set limits on the conditions of release.

Withholding of removal Third-country designation Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Order of supervision

Caution An unreported district court order on detention, not on the lawfulness of any removal. The order records a misdemeanor conviction and pending state proceedings, which are not summarised here. Respondents conceded the issues resembled those in Siguenza v. Moniz, 2025 WL 2734704 (D. Mass. 25 Sept. 2025), which the Coalition has not read. The docket shows an emergency motion to amend the petition and an order to show cause in April 2026, so the matter did not end with this order; what followed has not been established.

E.D. Cal. December 4, 2025 815 F. Supp. 3d 1124; 2025 WL 3485219 Third country: Cameroon

The court held it retained habeas jurisdiction despite section 1252(g) and the pending D.V.D. class action, and that the petitioner was likely to succeed on his due process claim because the Third Country Removal Policy gave him no way to have a negative fear determination by a USCIS officer reviewed by an immigration judge. It enjoined removal to Cameroon or any other third country until he has a meaningful opportunity to present his fear claim before an immigration judge, holding that a discretionary motion to reopen is not an adequate substitute.

Third-country designation Notice Reasonable fear Withholding of removal CAT Due process Jurisdiction Class action

Caution Interim relief only: a temporary restraining order granted in part on a likelihood-of-success standard, not a final judgment. Two of the three requests were treated as moot after the government gave notice and conducted a screening interview during briefing. The motion to dismiss and a separate Zadvydas motion were left unresolved. A further order in the same case dated 19 December 2025 is not part of the document read.

D. Md. October 24, 2025 Investigating. No reporter citation established. Third country: United Kingdom

Because the government produced no evidence of any step taken to effectuate removal to the United Kingdom or anywhere else, there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future and the writ issues.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Withholding of removal Third-country designation

Caution The earlier September 19, 2025 opinion in the same case, which held the court had jurisdiction and denied relief at that time, is not in the file; this order does not bar removal and does not address what process is due before a third-country removal; no reporter or unofficial citation is printed for this document; the supplied file name carries the date 20251025 although the document is dated October 24, 2025.

N.D. Cal. October 10, 2025 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 201666; 2025 WL 2899220 Third country: Jordan

Serious questions exist that the petitioner may not be detained without notice and a hearing before an immigration judge, or removed to a third country without notice and an opportunity to apply for fear-based relief.

Redetention Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Jurisdiction 1252(g) Jurisdiction 1252(a)(5) Jurisdiction 1252(b)(9)

Caution Preliminary injunction on a 'serious questions' showing, not a final merits ruling; issued by a magistrate judge, and the file does not state whether the parties consented; the supplied file is named for the July 26, 2025 temporary restraining order but contains the October 10, 2025 order.

S.D. Tex. September 26, 2025 2025 WL 2774610

ICE re-detained the petitioner without a shown lawful revocation, notice of reasons, or the required informal interview, and his removal is not reasonably foreseeable; release was ordered with notice required once a third country is identified.

Redetention Informal interview Notice Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Withholding of removal Third-country designation Jurisdiction 1252(g)

Caution The third-country notice claim was held premature even as summary judgment on it was denied, and no fixed notice period was set; final judgment was to be entered separately and is not in the file; the government produced no copy of any order revoking supervision; the court noted a split on whether the six-month period resets on re-detention.

D. Md. September 19, 2025 2025 WL 2687354 Third country: United Kingdom

The court held that it had jurisdiction, that the petitioner had not yet carried his burden to show a Zadvydas violation, and ordered the government to produce information about efforts to effectuate his removal.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Withholding of removal Third-country designation

Caution Not read directly; known only as summarised in the October 24, 2025 opinion in the same case, which later granted the writ. The brief does not separately name the judge for this order, describing it as 'this Court's' prior opinion.

E.D. Cal. September 18, 2025 2025 WL 2675760 Third country: Kenya, Eritrea, Somalia, or Benin (mentioned to the petitioner; none secured)

The court enjoined third-country removal without written notice, a minimum of ten days to raise a Convention Against Torture claim, and reopening or fifteen days to seek reopening, but declined to order release under Zadvydas.

Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Withholding of removal Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Bond hearing Jurisdiction 1252(g) Diplomatic assurances

Caution Preliminary injunction converted from a temporary restraining order with merits briefing to follow, although the decretal paragraph says 'permanently enjoined'; the bond hearing within 30 days, which the government requested, appears in the analysis but not in the numbered decretal paragraphs; the judge is not named anywhere in the printout; the assurances material comes from the court's quotation of ICE's July 9, 2025 policy, not from any assurance in this case.

D. Md. September 8, 2025 2025 WL 2592543 Third country: Australia and Romania

Detention is not authorized by section 1231(a)(6) because, with withholding granted as to Iran and no response from Australia or Romania, there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Withholding of removal Third-country designation Notice Jurisdiction 1252(g)

Caution The six-month Zadvydas presumption was assumed without deciding to apply; the third-country notice claim was stayed because the petitioner is a D.V.D. class member, so the court did not rule on what process is due before a third-country removal; the separate order carrying the decretal terms of release is not in the file.

C.D. Cal. September 3, 2025 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171809; 2025 WL 4666804

The revocation notice was not individualized and stated no reasons, and ICE's belief that removal was now possible was no changed circumstance; release was ordered and re-detention or removal barred without notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Redetention Notice Informal interview CAT deferral Third-country designation

Caution Temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on a preliminary record; the Form I-294 account reaches the court through a declaration by the petitioner's brother relaying a telephone call and is the record before the court, not a judicial finding; the brief warns that the 'border on the Kafkaesque' quotation in this order follows an ambiguous 'Id.' and is now traced to Roble v. Bondi at 772.

D. Mass. August 28, 2025 Investigating. No reporter citation established.

Granting the plaintiffs' motion under Rule 62.1, the court stated that it would dissolve its April 18, 2025 preliminary injunction if the First Circuit remanded the appeal for that purpose.

Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Class relief

Caution An interlocutory indicative ruling that does not itself dissolve the injunction; whether the First Circuit remanded, and whether the injunction was later dissolved, is not stated in the file; the disposition fits none of the listed categories, so 'Other' is used.

C.D. Cal. August 28, 2025 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168233; 2025 LX 356195

The court set a briefing schedule and enjoined the government from removing the petitioner to Iran or to any third country.

Redetention Third-country designation Notice

Caution The brief describes this order only through its identification of the three decisions in the case and the Form I-294 account it records; it names Walter, D.J. and Bristow, M.J. for the case without attributing this order to either, so the judge field is left empty.

D. Minn. August 25, 2025 803 F. Supp. 3d 766

ICE's notice merely parroted the regulation and gave no individualized reasons for re-detention, and the government bore and failed to carry the burden of showing changed circumstances; release ordered.

Redetention Notice CAT deferral Third-country designation

Caution The court declined a forward-looking injunction against future re-detention and declined class-wide relief because the petitioner had not sued as a class. The brief establishes that the 'border on the Kafkaesque' quotation belongs to this decision at 772 and not to Nouri v. Herrera or Gonzalez v. Noem.

W.D. Wash. August 21, 2025 2025 WL 2419288

The court found the petitioner likely to succeed on his Zadvydas claim and ordered his release, rejected the argument that detention must be consecutive, and found ICE's third-country removal policy likely inconsistent with Ninth Circuit precedent.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Third-country designation Notice

Caution Not read directly; described and quoted in the printouts of Tang v. Bondi, Villanueva v. Tate, and Y.T.D. v. Andrews, and in the D.V.D. indicative ruling. Tang distinguished it. Evidence recited in Tang indicates Vietnam issued a travel document for this petitioner on September 3, 2025, after the order.

N.D. Cal. August 21, 2025 Investigating. No reporter citation established. Third country: Guatemala was the country in dispute, by a determination that he could be removed there.

Juan Edelmar Alva Alva was released on an Order of Supervision on 3 December 2018 and lived under it for nearly seven years. He did not challenge his final order of removal. What was in dispute was a determination that he could be removed to Guatemala. He was re-detained, and a restraining order of 7 August 2025 secured his release. The court then held that a person who has been at liberty on an Order of Supervision for that length of time has a liberty interest in remaining at liberty, and that the government may not re-detain him during the proceedings without first giving him a hearing before an immigration judge to decide whether detention is warranted on grounds of flight risk or danger to the community.

Redetention Order of supervision Due process Bond hearing Custody hearing Third-country designation Notice

Caution A district court decision, binding on the parties only. The order decides the detention question and does not decide whether he may lawfully be removed to Guatemala. It does not address protection under the Convention against Torture.

E.D. Cal. August 20, 2025 2025 WL 2791778

The re-detention was unlawful because ICE gave no informal interview and showed no changed circumstances making removal to China reasonably foreseeable; release was ordered and re-detention barred without notice and a pre-detention hearing before an immigration judge.

Redetention Informal interview Notice Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Third-country designation Jurisdiction 1252(g)

Caution Temporary restraining order granted in part on a preliminary record, with a preliminary-injunction schedule to follow; the request to enjoin third-country removal was denied without prejudice as not ripe; the order introduces 'five claims' and then lists six, and several regulatory citations are printed irregularly.

S.D. Fla. August 8, 2025 2025 WL 2280485; 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153228 Third country: Guatemala

The emergency motion was denied: section 241.4(l)(2) required no notice or interview and both were in fact given, the Zadvydas claim was premature, and the regulatory stay barred removal to Mexico only.

Redetention Informal interview Notice Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) CAT deferral Third-country designation Jurisdiction 1252(g) Transfer out of district Bond hearing

Caution The brief records that this decision resolves the project's ledger claim 10 against the version previously carried: the motion was denied, and no appellate stay is supported, only the district court's interim order of June 12, 2025 staying transfer and removal. The decision splits from Grigorian, Zhu, Ceesay and Torres on whether section 241.4(l)(1) process attaches to an (l)(2) revocation, and from Gonzalez v. Noem and Zhu on jurisdiction to restrain a transfer.

N.D. Cal. August 6, 2025 2025 WL 2243616

Serious questions exist that due process bars detention or removal to any third country without notice and an opportunity to present a fear-based claim; sections 1252(g), (a)(5), (b)(9) and FARRA do not bar review.

Redetention Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Jurisdiction 1252(g) Jurisdiction 1252(a)(5) Jurisdiction 1252(b)(9)

Caution Preliminary injunction on the 'serious questions' standard, converted from a temporary restraining order by consent; every merits finding is framed as a serious question and none is final; no third country is identified anywhere in the file, and the court did not identify the governing detention statute by number.

W.D. Wash. July 30, 2025 2025 WL 2165995

The court restrained removal to any country other than Vietnam pending a preliminary-injunction ruling, relief the government did not oppose, and denied immediate release as falling outside the limited purpose of a temporary restraining order.

Redetention Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) Third-country designation

Caution Interim order that replaced a July 25, 2025 ex parte order and was to last only until a written order on the preliminary injunction; the court expressly declined to elaborate on the merits of the third-country claims and gave the government more time to rebut the Zadvydas showing; the government conceded that its revocation notice was incorrect; the Tang order cites this decision as decided July 20, 2025 although the document reads 'Signed July 30, 2025'.

W.D. Wash. July 25, 2025 2025 WL 2097979

Finding serious questions about the legality of his detention and a threat of severe irreparable harm, the court entered an ex parte order prohibiting removal to a third country pending a full hearing.

Third-country designation

Caution Not read directly. Known only from the order of 30 July 2025, which replaced it. The citation given here comes from an editorial history note rather than from the court's own text.

U.S. July 3, 2025 606 U.S. ___ (2025); 145 S. Ct. 2627

After the Supreme Court stayed the April 18, 2025 preliminary injunction, the district court held that its May 21, 2025 remedial order, which directed procedures for six class members already removed in violation of the injunction, remained in full force. On the government's motion the Supreme Court held otherwise: “The motion for clarification is granted. Our June 23 order stayed the April 18 preliminary injunction in full. The May 21 remedial order cannot now be used to enforce an injunction that our stay rendered unenforceable.”

Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Class relief Remedy

Caution Justice Kagan concurred, having voted against the stay: “I voted to deny the Government's previous stay application in this case, and I continue to believe that this Court should not have stayed the District Court's April 18 order enjoining the Government from deporting non-citizens to third countries without notice or a meaningful opportunity to be heard. But a majority of this Court saw things differently, and I do not see how a district court can compel compliance with an order that this Court has stayed.” Justice Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justice Jackson. This order resolves what an earlier register entry recorded as an unregistered further opinion at 145 S. Ct. 2627.

N.D. Cal. June 26, 2025 2025 WL 1771438

The court granted a temporary restraining order against arrest, detention, and third-country removal without notice and a hearing, while giving the government an opportunity for further briefing and a hearing.

Redetention Notice Third-country designation

Caution Not read directly; known from the recital in the August 6, 2025 preliminary-injunction order in the same case and from a parenthetical description in the Nguyen v. Scott printout. It ran until July 10, 2025, was extended by stipulation, and was superseded by the August 6 injunction.

U.S. June 23, 2025 606 U.S. ___ (2025); 145 S. Ct. 2153

On the government's application, the Supreme Court stayed the district court's classwide preliminary injunction pending appeal, removing the protection the class had been granted below. The order gives no reasons: “The application for stay presented to JUSTICE JACKSON and by her referred to the Court is granted. The April 18, 2025, preliminary injunction of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, case No. 25-cv-10676, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is timely sought.”

Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Class relief

Caution Justice Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson. The stay terminates automatically if certiorari is denied, and on the sending down of the judgment if it is granted. A further order of 3 July 2025 on the government's motion for clarification is registered separately.

D. Mass. May 23, 2025 784 F. Supp. 3d 401 Third country: Mexico, which then removed him onward to Guatemala

An immigration judge granted O.C.G. withholding of removal to Guatemala, his home country, after finding it more likely than not that he would suffer serious harm there. The court sets out what happened next: “Two days later, and without any notice, O.C.G. was placed on a bus and sent to Mexico, a country where he was previously held for ransom and raped.” And then: “As a result, O.C.G. was given up to Mexico, which then sent him back to Guatemala, where he remains in hiding today.” The government had filed a declaration, made under oath, stating that O.C.G. said before removal that he had no fear of Mexico. The court records that on 16 May 2025 the government “acknowledged an ‘error’ in their previous filings and statements to the Court.” Finding a likelihood of success on the due process claim, and rejecting the government’s argument under 8 U.S.C. 1252(g) on the ground that “Defendants’ gestalt argument cannot supersede the plain text of the statute as interpreted by authority binding on this Court,” the court ordered the government “to take all immediate steps, including coordinating with Plaintiffs’ counsel, to facilitate the return of O.C.G. to the United States.” The same order records what had been said in the immigration court: “During the withholding-only proceedings, O.C.G. asked if he might be sent to Mexico—because he was afraid of being sent to Mexico—and the immigration judge told him, ‘we cannot send you back to Mexico, sir, because you’re a native of Guatemala.’ ... At the close of that hearing, the government’s attorney clarified with the immigration judge that, because Guatemala was the country of removal designated on O.C.G.’s order of removal, that was the only relevant country for purposes of the withholding-only proceedings, and the immigration judge agreed.” (784 F. Supp. 3d at 407, as quoted in the judgment of 25 February 2026.)

Third-country designation Notice Withholding of removal Chain refoulement Onward transfer Due process Jurisdiction Remedy

Caution A preliminary injunction, not a final judgment, and it concerns one named plaintiff rather than the certified class. It is separate from the April 18, 2025 classwide injunction that the Supreme Court stayed on June 23, 2025, and separate from the February 25, 2026 judgment now on appeal as First Circuit No. 26-1212. The government did not resist this order. Five days later it reported that a Significant Public Benefit Parole packet had been approved and that ICE Air was working to bring him back. He was returned. The court recorded in its judgment of 25 February 2026 that it ordered his return, “which the Government later facilitated,” and the plaintiffs stated that he “has been returned [to the United States] and released.”

D. Mass. April 18, 2025 778 F. Supp. 3d 355; 2025 WL 1142968

The court certified a class and preliminarily enjoined the government from removing class members to third countries without notice and a meaningful opportunity to seek relief under the Convention Against Torture.

Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Class relief

Caution Not read directly; described in later opinions. The injunction was stayed by the Supreme Court on June 23, 2025, and on August 28, 2025 the issuing court stated it would dissolve it if the First Circuit remanded. The briefs do not name the judge for this order and do not print the class definition in full.

W.D. Wash. December 6, 2019 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 210865; 2019 WL 6683512 Third country: Somalia

The government's position was not substantially justified, and the court awarded $36,720 in fees and $2,170 in expenses at $450 per hour under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

Attorney fees Notice Third-country designation

Caution Fees were denied for the unsuccessful motion-to-enforce phase. The brief notes that a Fifth Circuit decision cited elsewhere in the collection holds the Act does not authorize fees for successful section 2241 motions, so fee recovery depends on the circuit.

W.D. Wash. June 20, 2019 409 F. Supp. 3d 998; 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103569; 2019 WL 2548137 Third country: Somalia

DHS may designate a removal country outside removal proceedings, but designating Somalia without notice or an opportunity to be heard violated due process, so proceedings must be reopened before any removal there.

Redetention Notice Third-country designation Withholding of removal CAT deferral Jurisdiction 1252(a)(5) Bond hearing Prolonged detention (Zadvydas)

Caution The four-step notice procedure often attributed to this case comes from subsection D of the magistrate judge's report, which the district judge did not adopt; the court's statement that failing to advise of the right to apply for asylum or withholding is itself a due process violation is hedged as what Ninth Circuit case law 'suggests'; the court held detention was not indefinite under Zadvydas and granted only a bond hearing on that score. Any account presenting the case as forbidding administrative designation misstates it.

W.D. Wash. January 23, 2019 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200381; 2019 WL 5790904 Third country: Somalia

The magistrate judge recommended relief and set out four procedural requirements DHS must satisfy before removing a person to an undesignated country.

Redetention Notice Third-country designation Withholding of removal

Caution This is a report and recommendation, not a decision of the court, and it was adopted only in part: the district judge adopted the Background section and subsections A, B, C and F, and did not adopt subsection D, which contains the four-step procedure, or subsection E. The report's statement that DHS has failed to notify other noncitizens before removing them to undesignated countries, and its description of the facts as 'alarming to say the least', are the magistrate judge's characterisations in an unadopted portion.

E.D. Va. August 28, 2006 446 F. Supp. 2d 604

The petition was premature because the six-month post-removal period had not run, and ICE's active steps to secure a third country defeated the claim that removal was not significantly likely.

Prolonged detention (Zadvydas) CAT deferral Third-country designation

Caution Adverse authority, and the brief carries it as such. Pre-removal custody does not count toward the six months. The petitioner was cooperating with ICE's efforts and consented to removal to a third country, so nothing in the case addresses removal over objection, without notice, or to a state where the person fears harm. The brief describes the grant only as 'CAT relief' without specifying withholding or deferral, and it does not print the decretal disposition.

9th Cir. June 11, 1999 180 F.3d 1033 Third country: Armenia

Denying asylum on firm resettlement in Armenia, a country added as an alternative destination after the evidence closed, was error, because the regulation permits denial only where a third country has offered resettlement without harm or persecution.

Notice Third-country designation Withholding of removal

Caution The frequently quoted notice passage at 1041 addressed a point the INS had conceded and was not the dispositive ground; the court decided the case on 8 C.F.R. section 208.13(d) (1999). The brief corrects the year: this decision is 1999, not 2000. That regulation has since been replaced, and the text now printed at 8 C.F.R. 208.13(d) and 1208.13(d) must not be quoted as the rule this decision applied. In 1999 the provision read: “An asylum application may be denied in the discretion of the Attorney General if the alien can be removed to a third country which has offered resettlement and in which the alien would not face harm or persecution.” The phrase “offered resettlement” appears nowhere in either section today, checked against the Code of Federal Regulations on 14 September 2026. The present paragraph (d) is a different provision listing adverse discretionary factors, introduced by the rule published at 85 FR 80274 on 11 December 2020. The government recorded at 86 FR 15069 that on 8 January 2021, in Pangea Legal Services v. Department of Homeland Security, a district court preliminarily enjoined the departments “from implementing, enforcing, or applying the [Global Asylum final] rule . . . or any related policies or procedures.” The Department of Homeland Security ratified the rule at 90 FR 51989 on 19 November 2025, in a notice that does not mention the injunction. The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies reports that the injunction remains in place and the case is administratively closed; the Coalition has not confirmed that from the court record. The Code of Federal Regulations carries no note of any of this.

7th Cir. January 5, 1998 132 F.3d 405 Third country: Russia

At the outset of a one-day hearing, at the request of the government, the immigration judge designated Russia as Mrs. Kossov’s country of deportation and Latvia as Mr. Kossov’s. The hearing and the asylum application concerned Latvia. The judge granted voluntary departure and, in the alternative, ordered them both deported to Russia. The Court of Appeals vacated the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals and remanded, concluding that the immigration judge had committed errors that severely prejudiced the couple’s ability to present their claim for asylum. The error was the absence of notice: “The IJ never informed the Kossovs, who at the time were without counsel, that they had the right to seek asylum here and introduce evidence specifically directed against deportability to Russia.” The court cited the regulation then in force, 8 C.F.R. 242.17(c)(2), as “providing that immigration judge must advise alien of right to apply for asylum or withholding of deportation with respect to any country specified as a possible deportation site, provided alien ‘expresses fear of persecution or harm upon return to’ such country”. It rejected the argument that designating the country at the start of the hearing was notice enough. That argument “fails miserably”, because the couple appeared without counsel and “It is too much to expect that they should have the expertise to adapt instantaneously to such an unexpected turn of events”. The couple had not raised the point before the Board of Immigration Appeals, which ordinarily forfeits it. The court held that it could reach the issue anyway: “What this Court is in effect asked to review is an order deporting the Kossovs to Russia in the absence of a fair hearing concerning that deportation. The BIA should have recognized sua sponte such a fundamental failure of due process during its consideration of the Kossovs’ challenge to the deportation order.”

Notice Third-country designation Due process Self-represented petitioner Jurisdiction Remand to the BIA

Caution A deportation case decided under the rules in force before the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, so its statutory and regulatory references are to provisions that have since been renumbered. The regulation it relied on, 8 C.F.R. 242.17(c)(2), has a successor at 8 C.F.R. 1240.11(c)(1), and the trigger phrase the court placed inside its own quotation marks, “expresses fear of persecution or harm upon return to”, appears in the rule in force today word for word. The Coalition has compared the court’s quotation with the current rule; it has not obtained the 1997 printing of the older one. The reported text is taken from a scanned reporter volume and carries line-break hyphens inside words. The reported decision also includes a separate concurring opinion, which the Coalition has not read.