Opara v. Jaddou ( 2024 )

1 BPrRinIAciNpa lM D. eBpOutYy NATssOisNta nt Attorney General 2 WILLIAM PEACHEY Director 3 SAMUEL P. GO Assistant Director 4 CAROLYN D. DILLARD Trial Attorney 5 U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division Office of Immigration Litigation-District Court Section 6 P.O. Box 868, Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044 7 Tel: (202) 514-7013 Email: Carolyn.D.Dillard@usdoj.gov 8 Attorneys for Defendant 9 10 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 ONYEKACHI EBELE OPARA, CASE NO. 2:24-CV-00566-TLN-JDP 13 Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY 14 PROCEEDINGS 120 DAYS FROM FILING v. DATE AND PROPOSED ORDER 15 UR M. JADDOU, 16 Defendant. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 STFIPOURL 1A2T0 IDOANY TSO F RSTOAMY F PIRLOINCGE EDDAITNEG S 2 3 1. This case is an action under the Administrative Procedure Act to review the denial of a Form 4 I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative. 5 2. Plaintiff filed her Form I-600 on behalf of the beneficiary who is a citizen and national of 6 Nigeria. On February 16, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) 7 denied Plaintiff’s Form I-600. Plaintiff’s lawsuit challenges USCIS’s February 16, 2022, 8 denial decision. 9 3. On April 24, 2024, Plaintiff and USCIS (hereinafter “the parties”) filed a stipulation for 10 extension of time for Defendant to answer the complaint up to and including 11 October 30, 2024. See ECF No. 11. In that stipulation, the parties agreed, “Defendant[] 12 intend[s] to reopen the Form I-600 to allow Plaintiff to rebut derogatory evidence and to 13 allow USCIS to reconsider its decision.” Id. 14 4. On April 25, 2024, this Court granted the parties’ stipulation. See ECF No. 12. Thus, 15 Defendant’s answer to Plaintiff’s complaint is currently due on October 30, 2024. 16 5. On July 29, 2024, USCIS reopened Plaintiff’s petition, and on September 24, 2024, USCIS 17 issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (“NOID”) to Plaintiff. Therefore, there is no final agency 18 action for the Court to review. See, e.g., Fairbanks N. Star Borough v. U.S. Army Corps of 19 Eng’rs, 543 F.3d 586, 591 (9th Cir. 2008) (“[F]inality is a jurisdictional requirement to 20 obtaining judicial review under the APA . . . ”). 21 6. The parties request that this Court stay proceedings until February 6, 2025, which is 120 days 22 from today’s filing date to allow the agency to issue a final administrative action. 23 7. If USCIS approves Plaintiff’s Form I-600, Plaintiff will voluntarily dismiss this action. If, 24 however, USCIS continues to deny Plaintiff’s Form I-600, the parties will file a joint status 25 report on or before February 6, 2025, to update the Court on the additional administrative 26 developments. This stipulation for a stay of proceedings is not filed for the purpose of 27 delaying the case. 28 1 In light of the foregoing, the parties ask the Court to stay proceedings up to and including 2 February 6, 2025, which is 120 days from the date this stipulation is filed. 3 4 Dated: October 9, 2024 Respectfully submitted, 5 BRIAN M. BOYNTON 6 Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General 7 WILLIAM C. PEACHEY 8 Director 9 SAMUEL P. GO Assistant Director 10 11 By: /s/ Carolyn D. Dillard Carolyn D. Dillard 12 Trial Attorney 13 Counsel for Defendant 14 /s/ JESSE M. BLESS (with permission) JESSE M. BLESS 15 Counsel for Plaintiff 16 17 18 // 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER 2 IT IS SO ORDERED. 3 4 Luly 6 Dated: October 10, 2024 7 TROY L. NUNLEY CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28