Gebray v. Mayorkas

1 District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE TSIGAB A. GEBRAY, et al., No. 2:23-cv-870-BJR 10 Plaintiffs, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER 11 v. ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, et al., 13 Defendants.

Plaintiffs and Defendants, by and through their counsel of record, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 7(d)(1), 10(g) and 16, hereby jointly stipulate and move to stay these proceedings for thirty days. Plaintiffs bring this case pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act and Mandamus Act seeking an order compelling the Government to complete processing of their Form 1-730s, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petitions. The parties are currently working diligently towards a resolution to this litigation.

Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ. 2 P. 1.

3 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) issued Requests for Evidence (“RFEs”) to Plaintiffs on July 6, 2023. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiffs responded to the RFEs.

5 USCIS is currently reviewing the responses and working on adjudicating the petitions. Therefore, the parties believe good cause exists to continue the stay to save the parties and the Court from spending unnecessary time and judicial resources on this matter.

8 Accordingly, the parties jointly stipulate and request that the Court stay these proceedings for thirty days. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before September 13, 2023.

10 Dated: August 10, 2023 Respectfully submitted, TESSA M. GORMAN 12 Acting United States Attorney 13 s/Michelle R. Lambert MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 14 Assistant United States Attorney United States Attorney’s Office 15 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Tacoma, Washington 98402 16 Phone: 206-428-3824 Email: [email protected] 17 Attorneys for Defendants 18 I certify that this memorandum contains 241 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. s/ Jane Marie O’Sullivan 20 JANE MARIE O’SULLIVAN WSBA#34486 21 O’Sullivan Law Office 2417 Pacific Avenue SE, 2nd Floor 22 Olympia, Washington 98501 Phone: 206-340-9980 23 Email: [email protected] Attorney for Plaintiff 1 ORDER 2 The parties having stipulated and agreed, it is hereby so ORDERED. The parties shall file a joint status report on or before September 13, 2023.

4 DATED this 10th day of August, 2023.

A 7 B arbara Jacobs Rothstein U .S. District Court Judge