W v. Mayorkas

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: January 28, 2025
• Docket: 2:24-cv-01970
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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

9 A.M.W., Case No. 2:24-cv-01970-JHC 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 v. CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER

12 KRISTI NOEM, et al.,1

13 Defendants.

14 Plaintiff and Defendants, by and through their counsel of record, pursuant to Federal Rule 15 of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 7(d)(1), 10(g) and 16, hereby jointly stipulate and move to 16 stay these proceedings until August 13, 2025. Plaintiff brought this litigation pursuant to the 17 Administrative Procedure Act and Mandamus Act seeking, inter alia, to compel U.S. Citizenship 18 and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to schedule an interview and adjudicate her asylum 19 application. Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on February 3, 2025. The 20 21 22

23 1 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), Defendants substitute Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem for Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) Acting Director Jennifer 24 B. Higgins for Ur M. Jaddou. 1 parties are currently working towards a resolution to this litigation. For good cause, the parties 2 request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until August 13, 2025. 3 Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706

4 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to 5 control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for 6 counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ. 7 P. 1. 8 With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial 9 intervention. USCIS has scheduled Plaintiff’s asylum interview for April 15, 2025. USCIS agrees 10 to diligently work towards completing the adjudication within 120 days of the interview, absent 11 unforeseen or exceptional circumstances that would require additional time for adjudication. If 12 the adjudication is not completed within that time, USCIS will provide a status report to the Court. 13 Plaintiff will submit all supplemental documents and evidence, if any, to USCIS seven to ten days

14 prior to the interview date. Plaintiff recognizes that failure to submit documents prior to the 15 interview may require the interview to be rescheduled and the adjudication delayed. If needed, 16 Plaintiff will bring an interpreter to the interview, otherwise the interview will need to be 17 rescheduled and the adjudication delayed. Once the application is adjudicated, Plaintiff will 18 dismiss the case with each party to bear their own litigation costs and attorneys’ fees. Accordingly, 19 the parties request this abeyance to allow USCIS to conduct Plaintiff’s asylum interview and then 20 process her asylum application. 21 As additional time is necessary for this to occur, the parties request that the Court hold the 22 case in abeyance until August 13, 2025. The parties will submit a status update on or before

23 August 13, 2025. 24 1 DATED this 28th day of January, 2025.

2 Respectfully submitted,

3 TESSA M. GORMAN O’SULLIVAN LAW OFFICE United States Attorney 4 s/ Michelle R. Lambert s/ Jane Marie O’Sullivan 5 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 JANE MARIE O’SULLIVAN WSBA#34486 Assistant United States Attorney O’Sullivan Law Office 6 United States Attorney’s Office 2417 Pacific Avenue SE, 2nd Floor Western District of Washington Olympia, Washington 98501 7 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Phone: 206-340-9980 Tacoma, Washington 98402 Email: jane@osullivanlawoffice.com 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 395 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. 12 13

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 ORDER 2 The case is held in abeyance until August 13, 2025. The parties shall submit a status 3 || update on or before August 13, 2025. It is so ORDERED. 4 5 DATED this 28th day of January 2025. 6 7 Kha. 4) Chur JOHN H. CHUN 8 United States District Judge 9 10 1] 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24