De Dandrade v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.

367 F. Supp. 3d 174
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 15, 2019
Docket17-cv-9604 (PKC)
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 367 F. Supp. 3d 174 (De Dandrade v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De Dandrade v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 367 F. Supp. 3d 174 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

CASTEL, United States District Judge

Lawful permanent residents ("LPRs") are required to pass an English language exam and a civics exam before becoming citizens, unless the exam requirements are waived. Nine LPRs and two non-profit organizations filed this action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief with respect to defendants' process for granting exam waivers based on mental or physical conditions. Plaintiffs allege violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA"), 8 U.S.C. § 1101 etseq., the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 701 etseq., the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. § 701 etseq., and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Const. amend. V. Defendants, the United States Department of Homeland Security ("DHS"), the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS"), and directors of those agencies, now move to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. For the reasons set forth below, the defendants' motion to dismiss will be granted.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from the plaintiffs' Complaint and declarations submitted on behalf of both parties and are construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs.

I. The Parties

At the time the Complaint was filed, in December 2017, all nine individual plaintiffs were LPRs, i.e. non-citizens who have been granted authorization to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis. (Compl. ¶ 1 & n.1; Doc 1.) LPRs wishing to become naturalized citizens must pass civics and English language tests, subject to certain exceptions for physical or mental disability. 8 U.S.C. § 1423(a), (b). All nine individual plaintiffs submitted at least one N-648 Medical Certification for Disability Exception waiver form to USCIS. (Compl. ¶¶ 56, 77, 94, 105, 124, 132, 145, 155, 165.) USCIS denied plaintiffs' waivers. (Compl. ¶¶ 58, 77, 96, 107, 126, 133, 147, 156, 167.) It is undisputed that as of February 2019, all but two of the individual plaintiffs, Daysi Moya and Obdulia Ruiz, had their N-648 waivers approved as part of their naturalization applications. (Letter of February 6, 2019 at 2; Doc 59, Declaration of Zoraida Gomez, Doc 71.)

Plaintiff Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice ("YMPJ") is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help the residents *180of South Bronx neighborhoods, including help with immigration services. (Compl. ¶¶ 175-76.) From August 2015 to August 2017, YMPJ helped residents of these neighborhoods file 118 naturalization applications, eleven of which included N-648 disability waiver requests. (Compl. ¶ 177.) YMPJ spends additional resources serving clients who require N-648 waivers based on their experience with the high chance of N-648 denial. For example, YMPJ sends a representative to naturalization interviews only for clients with an N-648 disability waiver request. (Compl. ¶ 180.)

Plaintiff Project Citizenship is a non-profit organization located in Massachusetts whose mission is to provide services for LPRs to become citizens. (Compl. ¶ 182.) Ten percent of the at least 14,000 individual naturalization applications Project Citizenship has helped file, or 1,400 applications, have included N-648 waiver requests. (Compl. ¶ 186.) Noticing a high rate of N-648 request denials, Project Citizenship began in August 2016 to send a representative to every naturalization interview in which the candidate filed an N-648 request. (Compl. ¶ 186.) When N-648 forms are denied, Project Citizenship works with physicians to add information to N-648 waivers, re-submits, and accompanies clients to subsequent naturalization interviews. (Compl. ¶ 187.)

Defendant DHS oversees the United States' immigration and naturalization processes. (Compl. ¶ 18.) Defendant USCIS is a government agency within DHS. (Compl. ¶ 19.) Kirstjen M. Nielsen is the Secretary of DHS, and L. Francis Cissna is the Director of USCIS. (Compl. ¶¶ 20-21.)

II. The Allegations

Plaintiffs contend that defendants violated statutory and Constitutional requirements by failing to implement a fair and effective process for considering N-648 medical disability waiver requests. Specifically, plaintiffs contend that defendants deny waivers based on inappropriate considerations, refuse to explain the bases for their denials, substitute their own judgment for that of medical professionals when reviewing disability waiver requests, improperly refuse to accept photocopied documentation, fail to review waivers prior to naturalization interviews, subject applicants to humiliation and emotional stress by requiring them to take the English and civics tests when they know applicants cannot pass, and fail to provide opportunities to challenge denials of N-648 requests. (Compl. ¶¶ 44-54, 191, 194, 203, 204, 206, 212, 217.)

LEGAL STANDARD

To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), Fed. R. Civ. P., "a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' " Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ). In assessing the sufficiency of a pleading, a court must disregard legal conclusions, which are not entitled to the presumption of truth. Id. Instead, a court must examine the well-pleaded factual allegations and "determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief." Id. at 679

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Bluebook (online)
367 F. Supp. 3d 174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-dandrade-v-us-dept-of-homeland-sec-ilsd-2019.