Pacheco v. William P. Joyce
- Vargas
- 1:25-cv-09348
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Maria Sonia Allaico Pacheco v. William P. Joyce, Judge Vargas transferred the habeas case to Texas and barred removal pending further order.
The petitioners’ case is transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Southern District of Texas, where they will have an opportunity to seek a ruling on their petition. They may not be removed from the United States absent further court order.
What happened
Maria Sonia Allaico Pacheco and the other petitioners filed a petition challenging their physical confinement under a federal law allowing prisoners to seek release or review. They were not located in the Southern District of New York when they filed, and the opinion says that court therefore lacked authority over their custodian.
With the parties’ consent, the court transferred the petition to the Southern District of Texas in the interest of justice. The court also waived the usual seven-day transfer delay and ordered the Clerk to transfer the case immediately.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas ordered that the petitioners not be removed from the United States unless another court order permits it, so the Texas court could consider the petition and retain authority over the case. The Southern District of New York closed the case.
The detailed version
- Pacheco v. William P. Joyce · No. 1:25-cv-09348
- Vargas
- Dec. 2, 2025
Background
The petitioners filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, a federal procedure for challenging a person’s physical confinement. The opinion explains that a court handling such a petition must have jurisdiction—legal authority—over the person holding the petitioner in custody. For a petition challenging physical confinement, that authority generally exists in the federal district where the petitioner is confined.
Transfer
The court found that the petitioners were not located in the Southern District of New York when they filed the petition. As a result, the court did not have jurisdiction over their custodian. With the parties’ consent and in the interest of justice, the court transferred the action to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1404(a) and 1406(a). The order waives the Southern District of New York’s seven-day transfer delay and directs immediate transfer.
Temporary protection and disposition
The court ordered that the petitioners not be removed from the United States without further court order. It did so to give the petitioners an opportunity to have the petition considered in Texas and to preserve that court’s jurisdiction to rule on it. The court directed the United States Attorney to notify the chief of the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas about the transfer. The order closes the case in the Southern District of New York; it does not decide the merits of the habeas petition.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.