C.N. v. Lehman

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: February 14, 2025
• Docket: 2:24-cv-02031
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE

9 C.N., Case No. 2:24-cv-02031-JNW 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 v. CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER

12 DANIELLE LEHMAN, et al.,1 Noted for Consideration: February 12, 2025 13 Defendants.

14 15 Plaintiff and Defendants, by and through their counsel of record, pursuant to Federal Rule 16 of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 7(d)(1), 10(g) and 16, hereby jointly stipulate and move to 17 hold this case in abeyance until August 29, 2025. Plaintiff brought this litigation pursuant to the 18 Administrative Procedure Act and Mandamus Act seeking, inter alia, to compel the U.S. 19 Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) adjudicate their Form I-589, Application for 20 Asylum and for Withholding of Removal. Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due 21 22

23 1 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), Defendants substitute U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Acting Director Jennifer Higgens for Ur M. Jaddou and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi 24 Noem for Alejandro Mayorkas. 1 on February 14, 2025. The parties are currently working towards a resolution to this litigation. 2 For good cause, the parties request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until August 29, 2025. 3 Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706

4 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to 5 control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for 6 counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ. 7 P. 1. 8 With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial 9 intervention. USCIS has scheduled Plaintiff’s asylum interview for May 1, 2025. USCIS agrees 10 to diligently work towards completing the adjudication within 120 days of the interview, absent 11 unforeseen or exceptional circumstances that would require additional time for adjudication. If 12 the adjudication is not completed within that time, USCIS will provide a status report to the Court 13 within seven calendar days. Plaintiff will submit all supplemental documents and evidence, if any,

14 to USCIS seven to ten days prior to the interview date. Plaintiff recognizes that failure to submit 15 documents prior to the interview may require the interview to be rescheduled and the adjudication 16 delayed. If needed, Plaintiff will bring an interpreter to the interview, otherwise the interview will 17 need to be rescheduled and the adjudication delayed. Accordingly, the parties request this 18 abeyance to allow USCIS to conduct Plaintiff’s asylum interview and then process their asylum 19 application. 20 As additional time is necessary for this to occur, the parties request that the Court hold the 21 case in abeyance until August 29, 2025. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before 22 August 29, 2025.

23 // 24 // 1 DATED this 12th day of February, 2025.

2 Respectfully submitted,

3 TESSA M. GORMAN MEENA PALLIPAMU IMMIGRATION United States Attorney LAW PLLC 4 s/ Michelle R. Lambert s/ Meena Pallipamu 5 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 MEENA PALLIPAMU, WSBA #31870 Assistant United States Attorney Meena Pallipamu Immigration Law PLLC 6 United States Attorney’s Office 4444 Woodland Park Ave. N., Ste. 203 Western District of Washington Seattle, Washington 98103 7 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Phone: 206-419-7332 Tacoma, Washington 98402 Email: meena@meenaimmigrationlaw.com 8 Phone: (206) 553-7970 Attorney for Plaintiff Fax: (206) 553-4067 9 Email: michelle.lambert@usdoj.gov

10 Attorneys for Defendants

11 I certify that this memorandum contains 384 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

24 1 ORDER 2 The parties having stipulated and agreed, it is hereby so ORDERED. This case shall 3 be held in abeyance until August 29, 2025. The parties shall file a stipulated motion for

4 dismissal or a joint status report on or before August 29, 2025. 5 6 DATED this 14th day of February, 2025. 7 8 9 A 10 Jamal N. Whitehead United States District Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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