Villeda Mejia: D. Colorado Alters Judgment for a T-Visa Stay-Class Member

Villeda Mejia v. Baltazar, 2026 WL 2224656 (D. Colo. Aug. 3, 2026), shows how new class-membership evidence changed an individual habeas result. The court had denied the petition in July after finding removal reasonably foreseeable. It later considered a Rule 59(e) motion supported by the petitioner’s T-visa stay record.

The earlier judgment

The initial ruling recognized detention beyond the six-month Zadvydas period but concluded that the government had shown reasonably foreseeable removal. The court vacated an existing removal restraint and entered judgment.

New evidence of the stay class

The petitioner then showed a pending T nonimmigrant petition and a second administrative stay request. The Stay of Removal Class certified in the May 20, 2026 ICWC order covered people with pending U- or T-visa petitions whom ICE detained or sought to detain after January 30, 2025 and who requested a stay before enforcement of a final removal order. The court found that the present record placed him within that class.

Why the court altered judgment

The court treated class membership as a material change in the operative record. The class order stayed the challenged blind-removal policy, and the petitioner was protected from removal while his T-visa application and stay process remained under review.

The relief ordered

The court granted the Rule 59(e) motion, ordered release within twenty-four hours without additional release or supervision conditions, preserved procedures for any later custody effort, and denied the separate TRO motion as moot.

Record lesson

A stay-class claim requires more than a pending Form I-914. Preserve the stay request, delivery proof, final-order status, agency response, and the date ICE detained or sought to detain the person. This order is an individual district-court ruling, not circuit precedent.