Ayala v. Noem

Opinion

1 District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead 2 3 4

5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT TACOMA 9 ARTURO SEPULVEDA AYALA, Case No. 3:25-cv-05185-JNW 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 v. CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER 12 KRISTI NOEM, et al., Noted for Consideration: 13 Defendants. August 26, 2025 14 15 For good cause, Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants,1 by and through their counsel of 16 record, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 7(d)(1), 10(g) and 16, 17 hereby jointly stipulate and move to stay these proceedings through October 26, 2025. Plaintiff 18 brought this litigation pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act and the Mandamus Act 19 seeking, inter alia, to compel U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to issue a 20 wait-list determination on his Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status, and to adjudicate 21 his Form I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant. This Court 22 has issued an initial scheduling order. Dkt. No. 26. The parties are currently working towards a 23 resolution to this litigation. 24 1 Undersigned counsel does not represent Defendant Bruce Scott. 1 Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 2 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to 3 control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for 4 counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ.

5 P. 1. 6 With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial 7 intervention. After a review of the current administrative record, USCIS determined that it needs 8 additional evidence prior to adjudicating Plaintiff’ Form I-918 or Form I-192. USCIS issued 9 requests for evidence (“RFEs”) and Plaintiff has until October 26, 2025, to respond to the RFEs. 10 USCIS cannot complete the adjudication until Plaintiff’s RFE responses are received and USCIS 11 reviews the responses. Thus, the parties believe that an extension is warranted in this instance. 12 Pursuant to this Court’s Order Granting Writ of Habeas Corpus in Plaintiff’s companion 13 habeas litigation, Plaintiff has been released from immigration detention. Sepulveda Ayala v.

14 Bondi, 2:25-cv-1063-JNW, Dkt. Nos. 23, 24. In the Order, the Court found that the deferred 15 action that Plaintiff was granted pursuant to USCIS’s bona fide determination prevents his 16 removal. Order, at 6-9. While USCIS has issued a Notice of Intent to Revoke (“NOIR”) 17 Plaintiff’s employment authorization and terminate his deferred action, USCIS intends to wait 18 until Plaintiff’s RFE responses for his Form I-918 and Form I-192 are evaluated before taking 19 further action concerning the NOIR. Accordingly, the parties have agreed to stay this litigation 20 until Plaintiff’s deadline for the RFE responses as Plaintiff’s deferred action remains in place 21 until USCIS takes further action. 22 Accordingly, the parties request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until October 23 26, 2025. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before October 26, 2025. The

24 1 parties further request that the Order Regarding Initial Disclosures, Joint Status Report, and 2 Early Settlement be vacated. Dkt. No. 26. 3 DATED this 26th day of August, 2025. 4 Respectfully submitted,

5 TEAL LUTHY MILLER GIBBS HOUSTON PAUW Acting United States Attorney 6 s/ Michelle R. Lambert s/ Kelly Vomacka 7 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 KELLY VOMACKA, WSBA# 20090 Assistant United States Attorney Gibbs Houston Pauw 8 United States Attorney’s Office 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 1600 Western District of Washington Seattle, Washington 98104-1003 9 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Phone: 206-682-1080 Tacoma, Washington 98402 Email: kelly.vomacka@ghp-law.net 10 Phone: (253) 428-3800 Attorneys for Plaintiff Fax: (253) 428-3826 11 Email: michelle.lambert@usdoj.gov 12 Attorneys for Federal Defendants 13 I certify that this memorandum contains 459 words, in compliance with the Local Civil 14 Rules. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 ORDER 2 The case is held in abeyance until October 26, 2025. The parties shall submit a status 3 |Jupdate on or before October 26, 2025. The Order Regarding Initial Disclosures, Joint Status 4 ||Report, and Early Settlement (Dkt. No. 26) is vacated. 5 It is so ORDERED. 6 7 DATED this 27th day of August, 2025. 8 9 10 sin N. WHITEHEAD nited States District Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD CASE IN ABEYANCE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY AND ORDER 1201 PACIFIC AVE., STE. 700