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

Plaintiffs and Defendants, 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 to stay these proceedings through August 19, 2024. 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.

This case is currently stayed through May 20, 2024. Dkt. No. 24, Order. For good cause, the parties request that this case continue to be stayed through August 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. 2 P. 1.

3 With additional time, this litigation should be resolved in its entirety. Since the last filing, the government has completed processing the beneficiaries’ boarding foils. Based on medical reports from exams performed by the United Nations’ International Office of Migration (“IOM”), the Embassy found the beneficiaries to be medically eligible for travel documents. The Refugee Processing Center found a resettlement agency to sponsor the beneficiaries. As a result, the Embassy issued boarding foils so that the beneficiaries can fly to the United States. The Embassy’s work on this matter is now complete. IOM is in the process of making the necessary travel arrangements. IOM was attempting to schedule flights for this week, but the beneficiaries need to provide renewed (valid) travel documents so that IOM can reschedule their travel. Plaintiffs estimate that it will take approximately 3 months to obtain renewed travel documents from the Ethiopian government.

14 Therefore, the parties believe good cause exists to stay this proceeding through August 19, 2024, to save the parties and the Court from spending unnecessary time and judicial resources on this matter. Accordingly, the parties jointly stipulate and request that the Court stay these proceedings through August 19, 2024. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before August 19, 2024.

19 Dated: May 20, 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: 253-428-3824 Email: [email protected] 3 Attorneys for Defendants 4 I certify that this memorandum contains 377 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules.

6 s/ Jane Marie O’Sullivan JANE MARIE O’SULLIVAN 7 WSBA#34486 O’Sullivan Law Office 8 2417 Pacific Avenue SE, 2nd Floor Olympia, Washington 98501 9 Phone: 206-340-9980 Email: [email protected] 10 Attorney for Plaintiff

1 ORDER 2 The parties having stipulated and agreed, it is hereby so ORDERED. The parties shall file a joint status report on or before August 19, 2024.

5 DATED this 22nd day of May, 2024.

A B arbara Jacobs Rothstein 9 U .S. District Court Judge