M.E. v. Mayorkas

Opinion

1 District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead

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

9 M.E., Case No. 2:24-cv-01548-JNW 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 v. CASE IN ABEYANCE AND [PROPOSED] ORDER 12 ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, et al., Noted for Consideration: 13 Defendants. November 19, 2024

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 April 14, 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 her asylum 20 application. Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on December 6, 2024. 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 April 14, 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 January 14, 2025. USCIS 6 agrees to diligently work towards completing the adjudication within 90 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 adjudication 12 delayed. If needed, Plaintiff will bring an interpreter to the interview, otherwise the interview will 13 need to be rescheduled and the adjudication delayed. Accordingly, the parties request this

14 abeyance to allow USCIS to conduct Plaintiff’s asylum interview and then process her asylum 15 application. 16 As additional time is necessary for this to occur, the parties request that the Court hold the 17 case in abeyance until April 14, 2025. The parties will submit a status update on or before April 18 14, 2025. 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 //

23 / 24 // 1 DATED this 19th day of November, 2024.

2 Respectfully submitted,

3 TESSA M. GORMAN NORTHWEST IMMIGRATION RIGHTS United States Attorney PROJECT 4 s/ Michelle R. Lambert s/ Christopher Strawn 5 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 CHRISTOPHER STRAWN, WSBA #32243 Assistant United States Attorney 615 Second Avenue, Suite 400 6 United States Attorney’s Office Seattle, Washington 98104 Western District of Washington Phone: (206) 957-8628 7 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Email: chris@nwirp.org Tacoma, Washington 98402 8 Phone: (253) 428-3824 Attorney for Plaintiff Fax: (253) 428-3826 9 Email: michelle.lambert@usdoj.gov

10 Attorneys for Defendants

11 I certify that this memorandum contains 373 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. 12 13

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 2 The case is held in abeyance until April 14, 2025. The parties shall submit a status 3 update on or before April 14, 2025. It is so ORDERED.

4 5 DATED this 20th day of November, 2024. 6 7 A 8 JAMAL N. WHITEHEAD United States District Judge 9

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