Rahul Atmanand Prasad, et al. v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

Opinion

1 District Judge James L. Robart

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

9 RAHUL ATMANAND PRASAD, et al., No. 2:25-cv-654-JLR 10 Plaintiffs, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 CASE IN ABEYANCE AND v. [PROPOSED] ORDER 12 UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND Noted for: October 17, 2025 13 IMMIGRATION SERVICES,

14 Defendant.

15 16 Defendant respectfully requests a stay of these proceedings due to the lapse of appropriations 17 to the Department of Justice (the Department). Good cause exists for staying the proceedings in this 18 case, and the interests of justice and judicial economy will be served by granting this motion. 19 Defendant’s counsel has conferred with Plaintiffs’ counsel who has agreed to stipulate to the 20 requested relief of a stay followed by a joint status report once appropriations are restored. The 21 Department provides the following background for the Court’s consideration. 22 At the end of the day on September 30, 2025, funding to the Department expired and its 23 appropriations lapsed. The same is true for many Executive agency clients with whom Department 24 1 attorneys must coordinate their litigation activities. The Department does not know when funding 2 will be restored by Congress. 3 Absent an appropriation, certain Department attorneys and employees of the federal 4 government are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited

5 circumstances, including “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of 6 property.” 31 U.S.C. § 1342. The term “‘emergencies involving the safety of human life or the 7 protection of property’ does not include ongoing, regular functions of government the suspension of 8 which would not imminently threaten the safety of human life or the protection of property.” Id. 9 Therefore, the lapse in appropriations requires a reduction in the workforce of the United States 10 Attorney’s Office, particularly with respect to prosecution and defense of civil cases. 11 District courts have inherent power to stay proceedings in cases. Oregon Mut. Ins. Co. v. 12 Ham & Rye, LLC, No. C10-579RJB, 2010 WL 2787852, at *3 (W.D. Wash. July 14, 2010). The 13 “power to stay is ‘incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the 14 causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.’” Id.

15 (citing Landis v. North American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936)). When determining whether to 16 stay proceedings, a court should weigh the “competing interests which will be effected by the 17 granting or refusal to grant a stay,” including “the possible damage which may result from the 18 granting of a stay, the hardship or inequity which a party may suffer in being required to go forward, 19 and the orderly course of justice measured in terms of the simplifying or complicating of issues, 20 proof, and questions of law which could be expected to result from a stay.” Lockyer v. Mirant Corp., 21 398 F.3d 1098, 1109 (9th Cir. 2005) (citing Landis, 299 U.S. at 254). 22 The above factors weigh in favor of granting a stay of proceedings in cases handled by the 23 United States Attorney’s Office, including this case. Most Assistant United States Attorneys and

24 1 support staff in the Civil Division will be furloughed for the duration of the lapse in appropriations 2 and will be unable to perform critical case work. For example, attorneys will not be able to engage 3 in discovery, review case materials, prepare motions, engage in settlement discussions, or prepare 4 for trial.

5 Specific to this case, Defendant will not be able to meet the next deadline to submit a joint 6 status report, which is currently set for October 21, 2025. Plaintiffs brought this litigation pursuant 7 to the Administrative Procedure Act seeking, inter alia, to compel U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 8 Services (“USCIS”) to adjudicate their Forms I-526E, Immigrant Petition by Regional Center 9 Investor, and Forms I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. Pursuant 10 to the parties’ previous request, this case is currently stayed through October 21, 2025, to allow for 11 the parties to work towards resolution of this matter. 12 Plaintiffs will not be prejudiced by a stay. As previously reported, USCIS had approved 13 most Plaintiffs’ Forms I-526s and was working towards adjudicating the remaining applications. 14 Furthermore, USCIS is actively processing the remaining Forms I-526s and is processing Plaintiffs’

15 Forms I-485s thereafter. USCIS continues to operate during the lapse in funding so these processes 16 should not be interrupted. Once the lapse in appropriations has ended, Defendant’s counsel will be 17 able to obtain and provide a further report concerning the applications. 18 Accordingly, Defendant requests the Court stay this case for the duration of the current lapse 19 of appropriations. As set forth in the proposed order, Defendant further requests that the stay be 20 lifted automatically and immediately as soon as the lapse of appropriations has ended. Defendants 21 ask the Court to order the parties to confer and file a joint status report within ten court days after 22 the restoration of funding. 23 //

24 1 Dated: October 17, 2025 Respectfully submitted, 2 CHARLES NEIL FLOYD United States Attorney 3 s/Michelle R. Lambert 4 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 Assistant United States Attorney 5 United States Attorney’s Office 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 6 Tacoma, Washington 98402 Phone: 253-428-3824 7 Email: michelle.lambert@usdoj.gov Attorneys for Defendant 8 I certify that this memorandum contains 752 words, in 9 compliance with the Local Civil Rules.

10 s/ Jesse M. Bless 11 JESSE M. BLESS, PHV Bless Litigation LLC 12 6 Vineyard Lane Georgetown, Massachusetts 01833 13 Phone: 718-704-3897 Email: jesse@blesslitigation.com 14

15 s/ Anahita M. George ANAHITA M. GEORGE, WSBA# 57799 16 George Immigration PLLC 5719 Stetson Ct. NW 17 Olympia, Washington 98502 Phone: 425-328-9339 18 Email: ageorge@justimmigrationusa.com Attorneys for Plaintiffs 19

24 1 [PROPOSED] ORDER Pursuant to the parties’ Stipulated Motion, it is hereby ORDERED that the above captioned 2 proceeding is stayed for the duration of the current lapse of appropriations. It is ORDERED that this 3 stay be lifted automatically and immediately as soon as the lapse of appropriations has ended. It is 4 further ORDERED that the parties are to confer and file a joint status report within ten court days 5 after the restoration of funding. 6

7 DATED this 20th day of October, 2025. 8

A 10

11 JAMES L. ROBART 12 United States District Judge 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24