Kariuki v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

1 Magistrate Judge S. Kate Vaughan

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE RACHEL WARIARA KARIUKI, No. C23-6097-SKV Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 10 CASE IN ABEYANCE AND v. [PROPOSED] ORDER UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND Noted for Consideration: IMMIGRATION SERVICES, et al., January 19, 2024 13 Defendants.

15 Plaintiff brought this litigation pursuant to the Mandamus Act and the Administrative Procedure Act seeking, inter alia, to compel the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to adjudicate her Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal.

18 Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on February 16, 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 July 3, 2024.

21 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 March 5, 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.

8 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. 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 her asylum application.

16 As additional time is necessary for this to occur, the parties request that the Court hold the case in abeyance until July 3, 2024. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before July 3, 2024.

19 // // // // // Dated: January 19, 2024 Respectfully submitted, 2 TESSA M. GORMAN 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: 253-428-3824 Email: [email protected] 7 Attorneys for Defendants 8 I certify that this memorandum contains words, in compliance with the Local 9 Civil Rules.

s/Nicholas Power 11 NICHOLAS POWER, WSBA# 45972 Law Office of Nicholas Power 12 5040 Guard, Ste. 150 Friday Harbor, Washington 98250 13 Phone: 360-298-0464 Email: [email protected] 15 s/James O. Hacking, III JAMES O. HACKING, III* 16 Hacking Immigration Law, LLC 10121 Manchester Rd., Ste. A 17 St. Louis, Missouri 63122 Phone: 314-961-8200 18 Email: [email protected] *PHV 19 Attorneys for Plaintiff

1 [PROPOSED] ORDER The case is held in abeyance until July 3, 2024.1 The parties shall submit a joint status report on or before July 3, 2024. It is so ORDERED.

4 DATED this 23rd day of January, 2024.

A S. KATE VAUGHAN United States Magistrate Judge

1 The parties should note, however, that the deadline to decline consent to proceed before a Magistrate Judge remains January 30, 2024. See Dkt. 9.