Churum v. Jaddou

District Judge Tana Lin

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 AT SEATTLE AMANUEL CHURUM, No. 2:23-cv-784-TL 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD CASE IN ABEYANCE AND 11 v. [PROPOSED] ORDER 12 Noted for Consideration on: UR M. JADDOU, December 7, 2023 14 Defendant.

15 Plaintiff and Defendant, 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 continue the stay of these proceedings until April 30, 2024. Plaintiff brings this case pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act and Mandamus Act seeking an order compelling the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to adjudicate the Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition, that Plaintiff filed on behalf of the beneficiary, Bana Gebrezgi, in 2018. This case is currently held in abeyance until December 18, 2023. For good cause, the parties respectfully request that the Court continue to hold the case in abeyance until April 30, 2024 23 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. 27 P. 1.

1 As previously reported, USCIS interviewed the beneficiary on November 15, 2023.

2 Following the interview, USCIS will work to coordinate and complete the beneficiary’s medical examinations, request sponsorship assurances, and complete any final security check and eligibility determinations necessary to finalize processing. However, separate from this litigation, Plaintiff’s and beneficiary’s three-year-old child, who resides in Uganda with the beneficiary, has an approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, and is in the process of applying for an immigrant visa through the State Department. The beneficiary wants to travel to the United States with the child.

9 In an attempt to synchronize the beneficiary’s Form I-730 case and the child’s immigrant visa processing, USCIS has requested that the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi expedite the child’s case.

11 With an expedite, it is estimated that the child’s immigrant visa case will arrive at the Embassy for interview in March 2024. If an immigrant visa is issued to the child by the State Department, and the beneficiary continues to be found eligible and is issued a transportation letter by USCIS, they will thereafter be able to travel together. Once the beneficiary’s Form I-730 process is completed, the parties agree that this case will be moot.

16 Accordingly, the parties request that this case be stayed until April 30, 2024. The parties further agree to provide a status report to the Court every thirty days while this case is stayed.

18 Dated: December 7, 2023 Respectfully submitted, TESSA M. GORMAN 20 Acting United States Attorney 21 s/Michelle R. Lambert MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 22 Assistant United States Attorney United States Attorney’s Office 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 24 Tacoma, Washington 98402 Phone: 253-428-3824 25 Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants I certify that this memorandum contains words, in compliance with the Local 2 Civil Rules.

3 GORDON TILDEN THOMAS & CORDELL LL By s/ Franklin D. Cordell 5 Franklin D. Cordell, WSBA #26392 Katherine S. Wan, WSBA #58647 University Street, Suite 2915 7 Seattle, Washington 98101 206.467.6477 8 [email protected] [email protected] COVINGTON & BURLING LLP 12 Gerald Hodgkins (pro hac vice) Maura Sokol (pro hac vice) 13 850 Tenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 14 Telephone: (202) 662-5263 [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs

[PROPOSED] ORDER 2 For good cause, the case is held in abeyance until April 30, 2024. The parties shall submit status reports every thirty days during the abeyance. It is so ORDERED.

DATED this 8th day of December 2023.

6 A Tana Lin 8 United States District Judge