Nijiati Maimaitiyiming v. Merrick Garland

CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedApril 9, 2025
Docket8:24-cv-02001
StatusUnknown

This text of Nijiati Maimaitiyiming v. Merrick Garland (Nijiati Maimaitiyiming v. Merrick Garland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nijiati Maimaitiyiming v. Merrick Garland, (C.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

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8 United States District Court 9 Central District of California

11 NIJIATI MAIMAITIYIMING, Case № 8:24-cv-02001-ODW (ADSx)

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND 13 v. 14 M ERRICK GARLAND et al., DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ 15 MOTION TO DISMISS [11] Defendants.

16 17 I. INTRODUCTION 18 Plaintiff Nijiati Maimaitiyiming brings this action to compel Defendants 19 Merrick Garland as U.S. Attorney General, Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of the 20 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Ur Mendoza Jaddou as Director of U.S. 21 Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), Ted H. Kim as Director of USCIS 22 Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate, and George Mihalko as 23 Director of USCIS, Tustin Asylum Office (collectively, “Defendants”) to adjudicate 24 his asylum application. (Compl., ECF No. 1.) Defendants move to dismiss the 25 Complaint. (Mot. Dismiss (“Motion” or “Mot.”), ECF No. 11.) For the following 26 reasons, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the Motion.1 27

28 1 Having carefully considered the papers filed in connection with the Motion, the Court deemed the matter appropriate for decision without oral argument. Fed. R. Civ. P. 78; C.D. Cal. L.R. 7-15. 1 II. BACKGROUND2 2 Maimaitiyiming is a citizen of China and a Uighur Muslim. (Compl. ¶ 9.) 3 Since the early 2010’s, the Chinese government has targeted the Uighur population 4 through mass internment, surveillance, cultural suppression. (Id.) On March 2, 2020, 5 Maimaitiyiming filed a Form I-589, application for asylum with the USCIS. (Id. 6 ¶ 15.) Thereafter, Maimaitiyiming contacted the USCIS multiple times regarding the 7 status of his application, and the USCIS responded that it was facing “a significant 8 backlog of more than 300,000 pending affirmative asylum cases” and would schedule 9 interviews using a “last in, first out” (“LIFO”) approach—scheduling interviews for 10 more recently filed asylum applications ahead of older filings. (Id. ¶ 18.) In addition 11 to his multiple requests with the USCIS, Maimaitiyiming also contacted his local 12 congressman for assistance, to no avail. (Id. ¶ 26.) Despite exhausting administrative 13 remedies, Maimaitiyiming has yet to receive an interview date or information 14 regarding the status of his application from the USCIS. (Id. ¶ 9.) 15 On September 17, 2024, Maimaitiyiming filed this action, alleging that 16 Defendants unreasonably delayed scheduling his interview and adjudicating his 17 application, and seeking to compel USCIS to act on his application. (Id. ¶¶ 27–47.) 18 Maimaitiyiming asserts two causes of action against Defendants: (1) violation of the 19 Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 555(b), 706(1); and (2) violation 20 of the Mandamus Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1361, 1651. (Id.) Defendants move to dismiss 21 the Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim under 22 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rule” or “Rules”) 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). (Mot.) 23 The Motion is fully briefed. (Opp’n, ECF No. 12; Reply, ECF No. 13.) 24 III. LEGAL STANDARD 25 Defendants move to dismiss the Complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of 26 subject matter jurisdiction and Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. 27 2 All factual references derive from Maimaitiyiming’s Complaint or attached exhibits, unless 28 otherwise noted, and well-pleaded factual allegations are accepted as true for purposes of this Motion. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). 1 A. Rule 12(b)(1)—Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction 2 “Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction,” possessing “only that power 3 authorized by Constitution and statute.” Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 4 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994). Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1), a party may move to dismiss 5 based on a court’s lack of subject matter jurisdiction. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). 6 “A Rule 12(b)(1) jurisdictional attack may be facial or factual.” Safe Air for Everyone 7 v. Meyer, 373 F.3d 1035, 1039 (9th Cir. 2004). A facial attack “accepts the truth of 8 the plaintiff’s allegations but asserts that they are insufficient on their face to invoke 9 federal jurisdiction.” Leite v. Crane Co., 749 F.3d 1117, 1121 (9th Cir. 2014) 10 (internal quotation marks omitted). Conversely, a factual attack “contests the truth of 11 the plaintiff’s factual allegations, usually by introducing evidence outside the 12 pleadings.” Id. The party attempting to invoke a court’s jurisdiction bears the burden 13 of proof for establishing jurisdiction. See Sopcak v. N. Mountain Helicopter Serv., 14 52 F.3d 817, 818 (9th Cir. 1995). 15 B. Rule 12(b)(6)—Failure to State a Claim 16 A court may dismiss a complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) for lack of a cognizable 17 legal theory or insufficient facts pleaded to support an otherwise cognizable legal 18 theory. Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1988). To 19 survive a dismissal motion, a complaint need only satisfy the minimal notice pleading 20 requirements of Rule 8(a)(2)—a short and plain statement of the claim. Porter v. 21 Jones, 319 F.3d 483, 494 (9th Cir. 2003). The factual “allegations must be enough to 22 raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 23 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). That is, the complaint must “contain sufficient factual 24 matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Iqbal, 25 556 U.S. at 678 (internal quotation marks omitted). 26 The determination of whether a complaint satisfies the plausibility standard is a 27 “context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial 28 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. A court is generally limited to the 1 pleadings and must construe all “factual allegations set forth in the complaint . . . as 2 true and . . . in the light most favorable” to the plaintiff. Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 3 250 F.3d 668, 679 (9th Cir. 2001). However, a court need not blindly accept 4 conclusory allegations, unwarranted deductions of fact, and unreasonable inferences. 5 Sprewell v. Golden State Warriors, 266 F.3d 979, 988 (9th Cir. 2001). 6 Where a district court grants a motion to dismiss, it should generally provide 7 leave to amend unless it is clear the complaint could not be saved by any amendment. 8 See Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a); Manzarek v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 519 F.3d 9 1025, 1031 (9th Cir. 2008).

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