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, NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL OF MOTION TO DISMISS AND 11 v. STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, et al., 13 Defendants.

Pursuant to Local Rule 7(l), Defendants provide notice that they withdraw their Motion to Dismiss because this case will likely resolve without the need of further litigation. Dkt. No. 11.

Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is fully briefed and scheduled for oral argument. Dkt. Nos. 11-17.

Plaintiffs brought 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, and specifically the adjudication of their Form I-730s and the scheduling of their consular interviews. As recently reported to the Court, Plaintiffs attended their consular interviews for their travel eligibility determinations in December of 2023. Dkt. No. 18.

The parties believe that a stay of this litigation will allow these processes to complete.

1 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. 5 P. 1.

6 The beneficiaries’ travel eligibility is currently undergoing security vetting. Once that has been completed, the Embassy will refer the beneficiaries to a physician with the United Nations’ International Office of Migration (“IOM”) to conduct a medical exam. After the results are obtained and assuming none of the beneficiaries are subject to a medical ineligibility, then the consular officer will notify the Refugee Processing Center, which will find a resettlement agency to sponsor the beneficiaries. Lastly, and if the beneficiaries clear the prior steps, the Embassy will issue a boarding foil so that the beneficiaries can fly to the United States. IOM will make the necessary travel arrangements. Additional time is required to allow these processes to be completed. Therefore, the parties believe good cause exists to stay this proceeding for 60 days to save the parties and the Court from spending unnecessary time and judicial resources on this matter.

17 Accordingly, the parties jointly stipulate and request that the Court stay these proceedings for sixty days. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before March 29, 2024.

19 Dated: January 30, 2024 Respectfully submitted, TESSA M. GORMAN 21 United States Attorney 22 s/Michelle R. Lambert MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 23 Assistant United States Attorney United States Attorney’s Office 1 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Tacoma, Washington 98402 2 Phone: 206-428-3824 Email: [email protected] 3 Attorneys for Defendants 4 I certify that this memorandum contains 375 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. s/ Jane Marie O’Sullivan 6 JANE MARIE O’SULLIVAN WSBA#34486 7 O’Sullivan Law Office 2417 Pacific Avenue SE, 2nd Floor 8 Olympia, Washington 98501 Phone: 206-340-9980 9 Email: [email protected] Attorney for Plaintiff 1 ORDER 2 The parties having stipulated and agreed, it is hereby so ORDERED that Defendants’ motion to dismiss is withdrawn, the case is held in abeyance for 60 days from today’s date, and the parties shall file a joint status report on or before March 29, 2024.

6 DATED this 30th day of January 2024.

A 10 B arbara Jacobs Rothstein U .S. District Court Judge