Elakil v. Mayorkas

Opinion

1 District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez 2 3 4

5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 HASSAN ELAKIL, et al., Case No. 2:24-cv-02104-RSM 10 Plaintiffs, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 v. CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER 12 ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, et al., Noted for Consideration: January 17, 2025 13 Defendants. 14 15 Plaintiffs and Defendants, by and through their counsel of record, pursuant to Federal 16 Rule of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 7(d)(1), 10(g) and 16, hereby jointly stipulate and 17 move to stay these proceedings until May 23, 2025. Plaintiffs brought this litigation pursuant to 18 the Administrative Procedure Act seeking, inter alia, to compel U.S. Citizenship and 19 Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to adjudicate Plaintiff Elakil’s Form I-130, Petition for Alien 20 Relative. Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on February 28, 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 May 23, 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 recently issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (“NOID”) the Form I-130. 6 Plaintiff has until April 19, 2025, to submit a response to the NOID. Once Plaintiff has 7 submitted the response, USCIS will need time to review it and continue with processing of the 8 Form I-130. Because further litigation may not be necessary after the review is completed, the 9 parties agree that holding this case in abeyance through May 23, 2025, is appropriate. Therefore, 10 the parties believe good cause exists for a stay in these proceedings to save the parties and this 11 Court from spending unnecessary time and judicial resources on this matter. 12 Accordingly, the parties request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until May 23, 13 2025. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before May 23, 2025.

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24 // 1 DATED this 17th day of January, 2025. 2 Respectfully submitted,

3 TESSA M. GORMAN JEELANI LAW FIRM, PLC United States Attorney 4 s/ Michelle R. Lambert s/ Sadaf F. Ahmed 5 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 SADAF F. AHMED, PHV Assistant United States Attorney Jeelani Law Firm, PLC 6 United States Attorney’s Office 3701 W. Algonquin Road, Suite 630 Western District of Washington Rolling Meadows, Illinois 60008 7 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Phone: 312-767-9030 Tacoma, Washington 98402 Email: sadaf@jeelani-law.com 8 Phone: (253) 428-3824 Fax: (253) 428-3826 GIBBS HOUSTON PAUW 9 Email: michelle.lambert@usdoj.gov s/ Adam Boyd 10 Attorneys for Defendants ADAM BOYD WSBA# 49849 Gibbs Houston Pauw 11 I certify that this memorandum contains 328 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 1600 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. Seattle, Washington 98104-1003 12 Phone: 206-682-1080 Email: adam.boyd@ghp-law.net 13 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 14 15

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 ORDER 2 The case is held in abeyance until May 23, 2025. The parties shall submit a status update 3 on or before May 23, 2025. It is so ORDERED. 4

5 DATED this 21st day of January, 2025. 6 A 7 RICARDO S. MARTINEZ 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24