Alemu v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE TENAYE ALEMU, No. 2:24-cv-00091-JHC 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER 11 v. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES, et al., Defendants.

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

Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on April 1, 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 Thursday, September 19, 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. 25 P. 1.

With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial intervention. USCIS has scheduled Plaintiff Tenaye Alemu’s asylum interview for May 22, 2024.

2 USCIS agrees to work diligently 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.

6 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. 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 her asylum application.

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

Dated: March 25, 2024 Respectfully submitted, BRIAN M. BOYNTON /s/ Nicholas Power Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General NICHOLAS POWER Civil Division The Law Office of Nicholas Power, PLLC Guard St. Ste. 150 W DiI rL ecL toIA r,M D iC st. r iP cE t A CoC uH rtE SY e ction Friday Harbor, WA 98250 Office of Immigration Litigation 360.298.0464 [email protected] WILLIAM C. SILVIS Assistant Director /s/ James O. Hacking, III 7 JAMES O. HACKING, III CARA E. ALSTERBERG Hacking Immigration Law, LLC Senior Litigation Counsel 10121 Manchester Road, Suite A St. Louis, MO 63122 /s/ Joshua C. McCroskey JOSHUA C. MCCROSKEY, FL # 1033212 (O) 314.961.8200 Trial Attorney (F) 314.961.8201 U.S. Department of Justice (E) [email protected] Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section Attorneys for Plaintiffs P.O. Box 868, Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044 Phone: (202) 305-1540 Fax: (202) 305-7000 [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants I certify that this memorandum contains words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules.

1 ORDER 2 The case is held in abeyance until September 19, 2024. The parties shall submit a joint || status report on or before September 19, 2024, if the case is still unresolved. It is so ORDERED.

5 || DATED this 26th day of March, 2024.

JOHN H. CHUN 9 United States District Judge STIPULATED MOTION FOR ABEYANCE -4- (2:24-ev-00091-JHC)