Almaqrami v. Tillerson

304 F. Supp. 3d 1
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMarch 27, 2018
DocketCase No. 17-cv-1533 (TSC)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 304 F. Supp. 3d 1 (Almaqrami v. Tillerson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Almaqrami v. Tillerson, 304 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

TANYA S. CHUTKAN, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs-citizens of Yemen and Iran-allege that Defendants unlawfully failed to process their diversity immigrant visa applications based on President Trump's March 6, 2017 Executive Order. ECF No. 46 (Am. Compl.). Defendants now move to dismiss Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. ECF No. 53 (Mot.). For the reasons explained below, the court will GRANT Defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

I. BACKGROUND

The facts of this case are set forth in more detail in the court's September 29, 2017 Memorandum Opinion regarding Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. ECF No. 49 (Mem. Op.) at 1-7. On March 6, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13,780 ("Executive Order"), which imposed, in section 2(c), a 90-day suspension on entry into the United States for nationals of six countries-Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States , Exec. Order No. 13780, 82 Fed. Reg. 13209, 13213 (2017). By the end of March 2017, *3section 2(c) of the Executive Order was enjoined, and two U.S. Courts of Appeals-the Fourth and Ninth Circuits-largely upheld both injunctions. See Int'lRefugee Assistance Project (IRAP) v. Trump , 857 F.3d 554 (4th Cir. 2017), cert. granted , --- U.S. ----, 137 S.Ct. 2080, 198 L.Ed.2d 643 (2017), and vacated and remanded sub nom. Trump v. IRAP , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 353, 199 L.Ed.2d 203 (2017) ; Hawaii v. Trump , 859 F.3d 741 (9th Cir. 2017), cert. granted sub nom. Trump v. IRAP , --- U.S. ----, 137 S.Ct. 2080, 198 L.Ed.2d 643 (2017), and cert. granted, judgment vacated , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 353, 377, 199 L.Ed.2d 203 (2017), and vacated , 874 F.3d 1112 (9th Cir. 2017). On June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay in part of the injunctions "with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States." Trump , 137 S.Ct. at 2087. In light of the Executive Order and the Supreme Court's stay, the State Department issued a cable advising consular officers to refuse diversity visas to applicants who were not exempt from the Executive Order's suspension of entry provision and who did not qualify for a waiver. ECF No. 2-2 (State Department Cable) at 3.

On August 3, 2017, Plaintiffs filed a Petition for Mandamus and Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief, as well as a Motion for Preliminary Injunction, in which they argued that the State Department's cable unlawfully applied President Trump's Executive Order to diversity immigrant visa applicants for fiscal year 2017 ("FY 2017"). In the operative complaint, Plaintiffs allege that: (1) the State Department's practice of requiring diversity visa applicants to provide documentation evidencing a bona fide relationship with the United States was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; and that (2) in applying the policy, consular officers violated their clear, non-discretionary duty to issue diversity visas to applicants who are statutorily eligible. Am. Compl. at 15-17.

In their Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Plaintiffs asked the court to issue an order: (1) enjoining the State Department from implementing the policy set forth in its cable; and (2) requiring consular officers to process Plaintiffs' applications pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act. ECF No. 2 (Injunction Mot.) at 10. Plaintiffs subsequently sought additional relief, requesting that this court order the State Department to: (1) process the diversity visas of, and/or issue diversity visas to, eligible applicants who had previously been refused pursuant to the Executive Order under the program for FY 2017, even in excess of the statutory cap and/or past the statutory deadline; or (2) issue diversity visas to eligible 2017 applicants who had been refused pursuant to the Executive Order under the program for fiscal year 2018. ECF No. 43 at 3-4. Alternatively, Plaintiffs asked the court to order the State Department to "reserve any unused visa numbers until after the [Supreme Court's decision]" regarding the legality of the Executive Order. ECF No. 45 at 5.

On September 29, 2017, the court granted in part and denied in part Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction and emergency mandamus relief. ECF No. 50 (Order, Sept. 29, 2017); Mem. Op. at 17. After reviewing the Fourth and Ninth Circuits' decisions in IRAP and Hawaii , the court found that the Supreme Court's June 26 decision permitting the Executive Order's execution with respect to individuals without a bona fide relationship with the United States applied not only to entry into the U.S., but to visa issuance as well. Mem. Op. at 8-11. Given the Supreme Court's June 26 decision and the Court's continuing jurisdiction to consider the legality *4of the Executive Order-including with respect to visa issuance-the court found that it was precluded from finding the State Department's policy illegal and from ordering the State Department to process and issue visas. Id.

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304 F. Supp. 3d 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/almaqrami-v-tillerson-cadc-2018.