Doe v. United States Department of Homeland Security

Opinion

1 District Judge Tana Lin

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

9 JOHN DOE, Case No. 2:24-cv-01712-TL 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 v. CASE IN ABEYANCE AND [PROPOSED] ORDER 12 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, et al., Noted for Consideration: 13 January 21, 2025 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 stay these proceedings until July 25, 2025. Plaintiff brought this litigation pursuant to the 18 Administrative Procedure Act and Mandamus Act seeking, inter alia, to compel U.S. Citizenship 19 and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to schedule an interview and adjudicate his asylum 20 application. Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on January 27, 2025. The 21 parties are currently working towards a resolution to this litigation. For good cause, the parties 22 request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until July 25, 2025. 23 Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 24 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to 1 control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for 2 counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ. 3 P. 1.

4 With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial 5 intervention. USCIS has scheduled Plaintiff’s asylum interview for March 27, 2025. USCIS 6 agrees to diligently work towards completing the adjudication within 120 days of the interview, 7 absent unforeseen or exceptional circumstances that would require additional time for 8 adjudication. If the adjudication is not completed within that time, USCIS will provide a status 9 report to the Court. Plaintiff will submit all supplemental documents and evidence, if any, to 10 USCIS seven to ten days prior to the interview date. Plaintiff recognizes that failure to submit 11 documents prior to the interview may require the interview to be rescheduled and the 12 adjudication delayed. If needed, Plaintiff will bring an interpreter to the interview, otherwise the 13 interview will need to be rescheduled and the adjudication delayed. Once the application is

14 adjudicated, Plaintiff will dismiss the case with each party to bear their own litigation costs and 15 attorneys’ fees. Accordingly, the parties request this abeyance to allow USCIS to conduct 16 Plaintiff’s asylum interview and then process his asylum application. 17 As additional time is necessary for this to occur, the parties request that the Court hold 18 the case in abeyance until July 25, 2025. The parties will submit a status update on or before 19 July 25, 2025. 20 // 21 22 //

23 24 // 1 DATED this 21st day of January, 2025.

2 Respectfully submitted,

3 TESSA M. GORMAN COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC United States Attorney RELATIONS, 4 WASHINGTON STATE CHAPTER s/ Michelle R. Lambert 5 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 s/ Anessa Novasio Assistant United States Attorney ANESSA NOVASIO WSBA#44294 6 United States Attorney’s Office Council on American Islamic Relations, Western District of Washington Washington State Chapter 7 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 1511 Third Avenue, Suite 788 Tacoma, Washington 98402 Seattle, Washington 98101 8 Phone: (253) 428-3824 Phone: 206-384-8432 Fax: (253) 428-3826 Email: anovasio@cair.com 9 Email: michelle.lambert@usdoj.gov Attorney for Plaintiff 10 Attorneys for Defendants

11 I certify that this memorandum contains 395 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

24 1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 2 The case is held in abeyance until July 25, 2025. The parties shall submit a status update 3 on or before July 25, 2025. It is so ORDERED.

4 . 5 6 DATED this 21st day of January, 2025. 7 A 8 Tana Lin United States District Judge 9

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