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?”
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.
Notice Third-country designation CAT deferral Class relief Diplomatic assurances Statutory sequence
The court's own text
Read from the court’s own filings: the Memorandum and Order, Document 241, 81 pages, and the Final Judgment, Document 242, 2 pages, both filed 25 February 2026. The judgment was read in full; the memorandum was read at its opening and its conclusion.
This entry describes a court decision. It is a summary for readers who are learning how these cases work, not legal advice, and it does not tell anyone what to do in their own case. A decision may have been appealed, stayed, or superseded since this entry was written.