Vaganov v. Jaddou

1 District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE ANDREY VAGANOV, No. 2:23-cv-1701-KKE Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 10 CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER v. 11 Noted for Consideration: UR M. JADDOU, et al., December 8, 2023 Defendants.

Plaintiff brought this litigation pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act seeking, inter alia, to compel the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) adjudicate his Form I- 589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal. Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on January 15, 2024. The parties are currently working towards a resolution to this litigation. For good cause, the parties request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until May 31, 2024.

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 With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial intervention. USCIS has scheduled Plaintiff’s asylum interview for January 31, 2024. USCIS agrees to diligently work towards completing the adjudication within 120 days of the interview, absent unforeseen or exceptional circumstances that would require additional time for adjudication. If the adjudication is not completed within that time, USCIS will provide a status report to the Court. Plaintiff will submit all supplemental documents and evidence, if any, to USCIS seven to ten days prior to the interview date. Plaintiff recognizes that failure to submit documents prior to the interview may require the interview to be rescheduled and the adjudication delayed. If needed, Plaintiff will bring an interpreter to the interview, otherwise the interview will need to be rescheduled and the adjudication delayed. If USCIS needs to reschedule Plaintiff’s interview, USCIS will make its best efforts to do so within four weeks of the initial appointment and as interview appointment availability allows. After the interview, USCIS will need time to adjudicate Plaintiff’s asylum application. Once the application is adjudicated, Plaintiff will dismiss the case with each party to bear their own litigation costs and attorneys’ fees. Accordingly, the parties request this abeyance to allow USCIS to conduct Plaintiff’s asylum interview and then process his asylum application.

19 As additional time is necessary for this to occur, the parties request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until May 31, 2024. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before May 31, 2024.

22 // // Dated: December 8, 2023 Respectfully submitted, 2 TESSA M. GORMAN Acting United States Attorney s/Michelle R. Lambert 4 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 Assistant United States Attorney 5 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Tacoma, Washington 98402 6 Phone: 206-428-3824 Email: [email protected] 7 Attorneys for Defendants 8 I certify that this memorandum contains words, in compliance with the Local 9 Civil Rules.

10 s/ Jessica T. Arena JESSICA T. ARENA* 11 Law Office of Jessica T. Arena 2443 Fillmore Street, #380-1614 12 San Francisco, California 94115 Phone: 541-525-3341 13 Email: [email protected] *PHV s/ Adam Boyd 16 ADAM BOYD WSBA# 49849 Gibbs Houston Pauw 17 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 1600 Seattle, Washington 98104-1003 18 Phone: 206-682-1080 Email: [email protected] 19 Attorneys for Plaintiff

ORDER The case is held in abeyance until May 31, 2024. The parties shall submit a joint status report on or before May 31, 2024. It is so ORDERED.

DATED this 11th day of December, 2023.

A Kymberly K. Evanson 8 United States District Judge