Anyone with a lawsuit against USCIS or thinking about a lawsuit (Merged)

I just requested a Civil Case pro se packet from the US District Court for the Eastern District of NY (Brooklyn, Queens and the rest of Long Island). The clerk was very nice and helpful, and he'll be sending the packet out today. I guess the journey begins!
 
RE: Lawsuit based on Green Card Approval / Citizenship Application

Here we go guys with the questions,

I have a friend who filed for adjustment of status in 2003 based on the fact that his daughter is a US Citizen. In 2004, 11 months later, he went to the interview and the interviewer was a supervisor, who told him that he had been already approved but he could not get the stamp and/or green card because the lawyer that processed the paperwork was under investigation for fraud related to other clients. The lawyer was convicted in 2005.

Nevertheless, the green card took until 2010 to be approved after another lawyer took the case for many years. Now, he always thought that the green card issuance will have the 2004 date so he could file for citizenship right away, but this is not the case.

Now, he wants to take USCIS to federal court to make them backdate the green card approval so he can file for citizenship.

We await for your commentaries and experiences.
 
San Francisco n-400 - delayed approval (90 days so far) and contemplating about lawsuit

Anyone who had experience filing a lawsuit against USCIS San Francisco office due to 4-400 delay? I had my interview on August 26, and I am still waiting for decision and oath letter. It has been 90 days, and I am ready to file a lawsuit once I hit my 120 days and still haven't received any decision. If anyone out there had filed a lawsuit against SF field office, can you please share your experience with me? Did you file it pro se or you used a lawyer? How much the cost of filing the lawsuit using a lawyer or file yourself (I read on previous post pro se costs around $400; however, I don't think it was filed in SF). Any recomedation of a good lawyer because I am so ready for this to be over. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Hello everyone,

I filed a lawsuit against the USCIS on 9/13/10 under 1447B Naturalization hearing, and the Assistant US Attorney responded on 11/15/10 to the assigned judge with a Motion to Remand the case back to the USCIS becasue they claim that I needed to do a second interview since it has been over two years since my initial interview with the USCIS.

My question is, is this a good thing that they filed a motion to remand, or is there something that I should do in response to their motion, such as filing a motion as well, or leave it up to the judge?
 
mm2457 said:
Hello everyone,

I filed a lawsuit against the USCIS on 9/13/10 under 1447B Naturalization hearing, and the Assistant US Attorney responded on 11/15/10 to the assigned judge with a Motion to Remand the case back to the USCIS becasue they claim that I needed to do a second interview since it has been over two years since my initial interview with the USCIS.

My question is, is this a good thing that they filed a motion to remand, or is there something that I should do in response to their motion, such as filing a motion as well, or leave it up to the judge?
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You have the right to decline the 2nd interview.
 
So I've drafted a complaint, but I've blatantly plagiarised most of the text from examples. Will this be a problem, or is it ok since most lawsuits are based on templated?

I also can't find the exact address for the USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas, the name of the New York office Director (is it Mary Ann Gantner or Andrea Quarantillo?), and the name of the Garden City Field Office Director. I guess I can call them and find out?
 
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cafeconleche said:
So I've drafted a complaint, but I've blatantly plagiarised most of the text from examples. Will this be a problem, or is it ok since most lawsuits are based on templated?

I also can't find the exact address for the USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas, the name of the New York office Director (is it Mary Ann Gantner or Andrea Quarantillo?), and the name of the Garden City Field Office Director. I guess I can call them and find out?
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It doesn't matter if it's plagiarized. Most legal complaints follow the same format, even if prepared by an experienced attorney. Moreover, the court is aware that you are filing Pro Se, so they don't expect the complaint to be perfectly formatted.
 
cafeconleche said:
So I've drafted a complaint, but I've blatantly plagiarised most of the text from examples. Will this be a problem, or is it ok since most lawsuits are based on templated?

I also can't find the exact address for the USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas, the name of the New York office Director (is it Mary Ann Gantner or Andrea Quarantillo?), and the name of the Garden City Field Office Director. I guess I can call them and find out?
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Cafe,

You aren't plagiarizing, you are following an acceptable writing format for a complaint to be accepted by the court. It doesn't have to be perfect, but has to be clear on the relief you are seeking from the court. There's no legal assistant who check whether someone has filed similar complaint, US attorneys have seen this lawsuits before, and know the core focus of the lawsuit.
 
mm2457 said:
Hello everyone,

I filed a lawsuit against the USCIS on 9/13/10 under 1447B Naturalization hearing, and the Assistant US Attorney responded on 11/15/10 to the assigned judge with a Motion to Remand the case back to the USCIS becasue they claim that I needed to do a second interview since it has been over two years since my initial interview with the USCIS.

My question is, is this a good thing that they filed a motion to remand, or is there something that I should do in response to their motion, such as filing a motion as well, or leave it up to the judge?
Click to expand...


Refuse to appear for a second interview, because USCIS could have contacted you long before you sued them, to indicate you are required to appear for a second interview. Do you know why they are asking you to appear for a second interview? As soon as you agree to a second interview, appear and are interview again for the same N400, they now have a new clock for 120 days to make a decision on your case. As such, you will have to wait till Mid-March 2011 to hear from them, which is absurd.

What you need to go, go to your district court and ask the clerk for a form, and file a motion to oppose the motion to remand the case back to USCIS. In your motion, argue that the defendants had ample time to send you a letter for a second interview in the past 2 years (730 days). You can calculate exactly, from the date of your last interview to the date you file this motion to oppose, the number of days you have been waiting for a decision. If it is 2 years, don't say 2 years, say 730 days, which sounds a lot more and will pique the judge's interest and anger at the slowness and willful disregard for applicant's time and rights by USCIS. If I were in your shoes, will oppose efforts to appear for a second interview, request the judge to grant your request, naturalize you.
 
Thanks guys. I'll call the individual CIS offices to get the names of the directors.

Also, regarding the second interview, I understand what you all are saying about mm2457. Would it be advisable for me to omit, in the prayer, the possibility of remanding the case to CIS, and instead only ask the court to make a decision?
 
cafeconleche said:
Thanks guys. I'll call the individual CIS offices to get the names of the directors.

Also, regarding the second interview, I understand what you all are saying about mm2457. Would it be advisable for me to omit, in the prayer, the possibility of remanding the case to CIS, and instead only ask the court to make a decision?
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No. Don't preempt anything as far at your lawsuit is concerned. Just outline in your prayer, that you seek the court to make a decision or force such an adjudication. Remember that US Attorneys are different, there are those who view these lawsuits as nuisance and a waste of their time(of which I concur), because USCIS need to be efficient in adjudicating such cases to spare DOJ officials from responding to these cases. If you preempt, then you could give the US attorney grounds to figure out another way out.
 
If it has been around 2 years since you interviewed, has any eligibility factor changed that would disqualify you from naturalization?

If the answer is no, then in a response to their motion I would ask the Court to make a decision on the merits or in the alternative to direct USCIS to make a final determination at the conclusion of the 2nd interview and either issue a denial or administer the oath that day before you left the office. If you are changing your name as a part of the naturalization process include it with the motion and ask the judge to grant it so that it cannot give USCIS a reason to delay for a judicial oath rather than an administrative oath.

That's only what I would do. I would ask the judge to make a decision or paint USCIS into a corner. You, of course, must decide for yourself.
 
BigJoe5 said:
I would ask the judge to make a decision or paint USCIS into a corner. .
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With these types of lawsuits, the AUSA contacts the plaintiff and settles the matter, so the plaintiff wouldn't interact with the judge to ask for a decision to be made.
 
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cafeconleche said:
So, in almost all cases, these cases will be settled? I'm a bit afraid that they'll play along and dare me to go to court. No?
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In almost all cases the AUSA will first contact you and offer you a deal to drop the suit in return for a guarantee that USCIS adjudicate your case within a certain amount of time (ex:2-4 weeks). Going to court is expensive and time consuming, so the AUSA is more interested in settling without the case having to go to court.
 
Bobsmyth said:
There wouldn't be any motions if the case never makes it to court in the first place.
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mm2457 stated that the gov't had made a Motion to Remand with a request for a 2nd interview. If that Motion goes unanswered or unopposed it will be granted, most likely as written. In his post, he did not give details of what else was requested or stated in the motion other than a remand for a 2nd interview. No timeframe or any other details were included in his post. Did they specify a date or a timeframe for that 2nd interview? Did they say anything about the current status of any background checks? Did they offer a timeframe to make a decision? Did they discuss Adminstrative Oath? Someone in this thread mentioned that they might be invoking a new 120 day period for decision---is that addressed in the government's motion? The clock is ticking on responding to that motion. What's OP's deadline?
 
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So, if the AUSA were to contact me, I could agree for the case to be remanded but stipulate that CIS has to approve it, or what? Isn't it true that some courts don't accept denials from CIS once they have been remanded?
 
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