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

[paz1960]

The information that I get from this hearing is that the USCIS currently have a limit for how many expidition cases they will sent to FBI every month. I don't know the real number.

This seems to agree what I found in a document entitled: "A Review of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Alien Security Checks", authored by the Office of the Inspector General, DHS, November 2005, OIG-06-06. On page 24 you can find the following:

Pending FBI name checks. Unlike other USCIS checks that return results within a few days at most, the FBI name check takes more than a month to complete for six percent of submissions. For one percent, the FBI takes more than six months to compile the hit information and verify that the initial hit matches the identity of the applicant. In December 2002, USCIS (then INS) resubmitted 2.4 million applicant names for expanded checks,30 almost double the number USCIS typically submits in a year’s time. As of February 2005, USCIS reported 171,428 FBI name checks pending, including approximately 8,500 remaining from the December 2002 rerun. USCIS may pay the FBI double to “expedite” up to a few hundred FBI name checks per month. USCIS restricts these requests to certain cases, such as when the alien is about to become ineligible due to age, the applicant files writ of mandamus lawsuits to compel USCIS to complete adjudication, or other humanitarian factors. The “expedite” requests are insufficient to clear the backlog of FBI name checks.

And another interesting citation from the same document about the cost of a name check:

USCIS electronically submits applicant names to the FBI National Name Check Program for benefits such as naturalization, permanent residence, and asylum. The legacy INS queried the main files since 1985 but added reference files to security checks in 2002. USCIS submitted 1.5 million names at a cost of $6.0 million in FY 2004. (page 3-4 of the same document)

I think that everybody can do the math.... No wonder, why FBI is not eager to devote more resources to clear the backlog. It is revolting....

 

[myang1969]

Another screw up A#. We are in the same boat. They screw up my A# too. USCIS is still requiring expidition to FBI after December 22th. But they have a quota for it every month. Now I think AUSA plays an important role to get the NC expedited. Unfortunately, we can not choose the AUSA.

Comfused
Good Job
I believe you are one step from victory.
The Judge is on your side, the oder is USCIS has to get your name check done in 60 days. If they are not done in that time frame, there is a former trail waiting. I dont think USCIS dare to show up. take a break and relax. Good work. I am so pround of you.
By the way, did anyone mentioned mixed up A#?

 

[myang1969]

In my opinion, either get a professional immigration lawyer, or do it yourself Pro Se. Reading this thread from post #1 till the end it is long and sometimes not much fun, but you will learn a lot and it will cost you nothing. As somebody stated couple of posts ago, nobody will pay so much attention to your case than you will do. I don't want to fool you that it is easy, but many of the members of this forum did it successfully. So start reading and you will prevail: the law is on our side.

PAZ1960
I guess most of lawyer dont want screw up with USCIS since they more likely keep good working relationship with them. This kind of lawsuit could put them out of business or end up in Jail (Denilov case had something behind). I am looking a good lawyer for while, but nothing, I dont know if they have this concern or not, again just my guess

 

[msenior]

Pat1960,
Thank you so much for your explain & info. I belong to the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria division. You are right. I waste my time to prepare. I feel this case is too complicate for me to handle. I will continue study. Meanwhile, I would appreciate a attorney who can help me on this.

If an attorney or anyone out there can help, please drop me email zhang_zm@yahoo.com. thank you

 

[paz1960]

PAZ1960
I guess most of lawyer dont want screw up with USCIS since they more likely keep good working relationship with them. This kind of lawsuit could put them out of business or end up in Jail (Denilov case had something behind). I am looking a good lawyer for while, but nothing, I dont know if they have this concern or not, again just my guess

In my opinion, this guess is not correct. If you study many cases on PACER, you can notice that a large fraction of these cases are represented by professional lawyers. I didn't do a statistics, maybe wenlock has a better idea about this.

A lawyer definitely can't go to jail because (s)he is representing a client in court in a lawsuit against the government. As a matter of fact, in immigration matters, essentially all the lawsuits are against the government because all the immigration issues are handled by USCIS, a government agency. And Danilov didn't go to jail because he sued the government. As I remember, he was part of an ellaborate ring providing false immigration papers to illegal aliens.

As I remember, you are in Michigan and because not in my district, most likely in the Eastern District. I can give you some attorney names who filed similar lawsuits in Detroit. Send me a PM with an e-mail adress, if you are interested.

Disclaimer: I don't work for any of them, I don't know them, I don't have any personal experience with them, so I don't know, how good or bad are they. I just saw cases represented by them in the Eastern District of Michigan.

 

[paz1960]

Pat1960,
Thank you so much for your explain & info. I belong to the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria division. You are right. I waste my time to prepare. I feel this case is too complicate for me to handle. I will continue study. Meanwhile, I would appreciate a attorney who can help me on this.

If an attorney or anyone out there can help, please drop me email zhang_zm@yahoo.com. thank you

Unfortunately, I don't know any lawyer in your district (as a matter of fact, I don't know personally any immigration lawyer in any district). But you can go to the PACER site in your district and look for similar cases (defendant Chertoff, type of the case 890 or 540) and look till you find cases filed by attorneys (not by Pro Se). You will able to find also the contact info of the attorney. If somebody filed such lawsuits before, it is likely that (s)he would take your case too.

 

[bobsunzi]

Question about the server

I went to court this afternoon. I sued five dudes in the complaint. The clerk gave me lots of summons. The total number of summon I got is 14 - five for each defendant, 5 for the DA, and extra 4 for Atty General.

The clerk is very nice and patient with me. I was told I need to serve the copies of summons to the defendants and DA. Later return the original summons back to court.

Then I asked the clerk how to serve the summons. She told me must be a third party. I, myself can't serve it. She even photocopied the page of Rule 4 which states "Service may be effected by any person who is not a party and who is at least 18 years of age."

I was confused. Please shed light on this. Can I just go ahead send out the summon + complain via Certified Mail/Return Receipt, and put my name as the server?

Or could I just go to post office with my friend and have him mail it for me and put my friend's name as the server?

Anyway, what's the logical behind this? There is no way to tell whether it's my friend or myself send the stuff out, right? I can just mail them and put my friend's name as server.

Please help me. I am trying to do it tomorrow. thanks

 

[msenior]

Thank you paz1960,
I found my case status at PACER
1:06-cv-01251-CMH-BRP Zhang v. Gonzales et al
Claude M. Hilton, presiding
Barry R. Poretz, referral
Date filed: 11/06/2006 Date of last filing: 01/22/2007

--
Doc.
No. Deadline/Hearing Event
Filed Due/Set Satisfied Terminated
3 Motion Hearing 01/08/2007 02/23/2006
at 09:00 AM
4 Motion Hearing 01/08/2007 02/23/2006
at 09:00 AM
1 Answer due 11/06/2006 01/06/2007
1 Answer due 11/06/2006 01/06/2007
1 Answer due 11/06/2006 01/06/2007
1 Answer due 11/06/2006 01/06/2007


Do you think this mean my case schedule hearing at 02/23/2006

thanks

 

[Happyheart]

Thanks for paz1960

Hi, thanks for your hard work in this thread. I wish we will celebrate your victory very soon.

Now you are certainly happy, not only in your nickname! Congratulations, what a good news, two victories today. Enjoy!

 

[paz1960]

I went to court this afternoon. I sued five dudes in the complaint. The clerk gave me lots of summons. The total number of summon I got is 14 - five for each defendant, 5 for the DA, and extra 4 for Atty General.

The clerk is very nice and patient with me. I was told I need to serve the copies of summons to the defendants and DA. Later return the original summons back to court.

Then I asked the clerk how to serve the summons. She told me must be a third party. I, myself can't serve it. She even photocopied the page of Rule 4 which states "Service may be effected by any person who is not a party and who is at least 18 years of age."

I was confused. Please shed light on this. Can I just go ahead send out the summon + complain via Certified Mail/Return Receipt, and put my name as the server?

Or could I just go to post office with my friend and have him mail it for me and put my friend's name as the server?

Anyway, what's the logical behind this? There is no way to tell whether it's my friend or myself send the stuff out, right? I can just mail them and put my friend's name as server.

Please help me. I am trying to do it tomorrow. thanks

You can certainly mail at the post office the complaints and summonses to the defendants and US Attorney's Office (don't forget to put in the address of the US Attorney, Civil Process Clerk) in person.

In general, you are not allowed to serve a complaint and summons in person to a defendant. The logic behind this is very simple. Many people can get upset when they realise that somebody is sueing them. So imagine, your neighbour showes up at your door, handling you a complaint and a summons. You might get so upset that you take your baseball bat and beat out the crap from the guy (I'm kidding...) To avoid situations like this, you are not allowed to serve these papers in person. Obviously, the post office clerk will not care who you are sueing.

 

[wenlock]

Pat1960,
Thank you so much for your explain & info. I belong to the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria division. You are right. I waste my time to prepare. I feel this case is too complicate for me to handle. I will continue study. Meanwhile, I would appreciate a attorney who can help me on this.

If an attorney or anyone out there can help, please drop me email zhang_zm@yahoo.com. thank you

If you are filing in Virginia I would recommenf file WOM instead of 1447b as Danilov case was in Fourth District court virginia you are most likely to get strick by motion to dismiss based in this case. I would recommend filling WOM with reference to 1447b clause in Jurisdiction. I have seen many lawyers in virginia filling WOM instead of hearing of naturalization. Do your research because Judges in same district courts tend to uphold all the decisions of that district court specially if the rulling judge is still active judge of district court.

I feel very safe filling 1447b in Second, ninth and third district courts. Judges in these courts have rejected Danilov argument.

 

[ICU Doc]

Finally..light at the end of the tunnel

Hi all
Most of you do not remember me. I was participating in this forum when it started. I stopped following about 4 months ago because of work issues. At the same time I hired a lawyer and filed Writ of Mandamus. Today I got a phone call from USCIS, the first time ever I hear from my local office. The lady on the other side of the line would like to schedule me for renewal fingerprints, interview for I-751 with my wife, interview for citizenship, and possibly oath ceremony AT THE SAME DAY. Here is my time line:
I-485 through marriage Feb 2000
Conditional Green Card May 2001
I-751 removal of conditions filed Feb 2003 (never received a response)
N-400 citizenship filed April 2004 (name check sent to FBI same month)
Fingerprints done July 2004 (NOTHING happened since)
Writ of Mandamus filed Sep 2006 (2 extensions granted to AUSA)
Interview and hopefully end of nightmare Jan 31st 2007.

 

[paz1960]

Thank you paz1960,
I found my case status at PACER
1:06-cv-01251-CMH-BRP Zhang v. Gonzales et al
Claude M. Hilton, presiding
Barry R. Poretz, referral
Date filed: 11/06/2006 Date of last filing: 01/22/2007

--
Doc.
No. Deadline/Hearing Event
Filed Due/Set Satisfied Terminated
3 Motion Hearing 01/08/2007 02/23/2006
at 09:00 AM
4 Motion Hearing 01/08/2007 02/23/2006
at 09:00 AM
1 Answer due 11/06/2006 01/06/2007
1 Answer due 11/06/2006 01/06/2007
1 Answer due 11/06/2006 01/06/2007
1 Answer due 11/06/2006 01/06/2007


Do you think this mean my case schedule hearing at 02/23/2006

thanks

I looked up what is in your docket. Seems that defendants filed two motions: the first one was a motion to dismiss lack of jurisdiction and failure to state claim, the second is a motion to remand to USCIS. And yes, the court set a hearing date for 2/23/2007 where the judge will decide these two motions. It is actually nice from him that he is not going to simply decide based on the papers filed but he wants to give you a chance to defend your case. This judge is not the same as in the Danilov case and this simple fact that he set a hearing should give you hope that your case is actually not lost at all.

At this point you can do two things:
1. try to find a lawyer as soon as you can
2. file an Opposition to both motions by yourself

If you decide to hire a lawyer, you still need to file a motion to extend the deadline till you can file an Opposition. The time requested can't go past the set hearing time. Your local rules should specify how much time you have to file an Opposition. If that date is well before the hearing, it is worth to ask couple of more days, but the new due date can't be after the hearing date. By this you buy some time for the lawyer who will need that time to prepapre a strong Opposition.

If you decide to continue Pro Se, we probably can help you to write a good Opposition. But you still will need to go by yourself at the hearing and represent yourself and defend your case in front of the judge.

 

[wenlock]

I had a conference with judge and AUSA on 01/19. It was actually a hearing. I didn't prepare very well. The judge basically sensed that I am so ignorant of the procedure and only asked me one question: How does it affect your life without the adjudication of your I-485 application? I basically repeated what I wrote in my compliant. The left time the judge asked all questions to AUSA:.

Great news I saw your email too. It looks like our motion to dismiss impressed Judge. I am sure your application with get adjudicated with in next 2 months. But you should keep your self prepared for trial. I agree with Paz in discovery phase you can ask AUSA about information related to your file like A file as well as FBI record that triggered hit as long as those are not confidential. You should have proof of all the facts that you mentioned in your complaint. All supportive documentation.

I think USCIS stopped automatic expediate of cases but they still have options for few hundred cases for expediate every month so you should be fine. I am sure they will expediate your name check.

 

[bobsunzi]

Thanks paz1960

You can certainly mail at the post office the complaints and summonses to the defendants and US Attorney's Office (don't forget to put in the address of the US Attorney, Civil Process Clerk) in person.

In general, you are not allowed to serve a complaint and summons in person to a defendant. The logic behind this is very simple. Many people can get upset when they realise that somebody is sueing them. So imagine, your neighbour showes up at your door, handling you a complaint and a summons. You might get so upset that you take your baseball bat and beat out the crap from the guy (I'm kidding...) To avoid situations like this, you are not allowed to serve these papers in person. Obviously, the post office clerk will not care who you are sueing.

I am gonna send them out tomorrow. Two more questions, when I send the original summons back to court, do I need to sign my name as the server? If I serve the US Attorney in person, how do I choose the method of service? - maybe the first option - Served personally upon the defendant

Thanks

 

[paz1960]

If you are filing in Virginia I would recommenf file WOM instead of 1447b as Danilov case was in Fourth District court virginia you are most likely to get strick by motion to dismiss based in this case. I would recommend filling WOM with reference to 1447b clause in Jurisdiction. I have seen many lawyers in virginia filling WOM instead of hearing of naturalization. Do your research because Judges in same district courts tend to uphold all the decisions of that district court specially if the rulling judge is still active judge of district court.

I feel very safe filling 1447b in Second, ninth and third district courts. Judges in these courts have rejected Danilov argument.

Wenlock, it is too late. msenior is already at that stage, when he needs to file an Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. Of course, he can ask in this Opposition that if the court finds that doesn't have jurisdiction, Plaintiff should leaveto file an ammended complaint for WOM.

I think that you were referring to the 2nd, 3rd and 9th Circuit Courts...
In the Eastern District of Michigan (6th Circuit Court) judges assume jurisdiction but they remand the case to USCIS. Some of them with meaningful instructions, some of them are meaningless.

 

[sfdurrani]

Congratulations!

Hi, thanks for your hard work in this thread. I wish we will celebrate your victory very soon.

Congratulations Happyheart!
This also gives me encouragement. I am in similar boat. I filed my I-485 WOM in New Mexico 11/22/2006. Did your AUSA file any motion or you were approved before that? Also what exact date did you file? Thanks

 

[Happyheart]

Actually I am approved before AUSA file any motion. BTW, my filing date is after 11/22/2006.

Congratulations Happyheart!
This also gives me encouragement. I am in similar boat. I filed my I-485 WOM in New Mexico 11/22/2006. Did your AUSA file any motion or you were approved before that? Also what exact date did you file? Thanks

 

[msenior]

Paz1960,
Thank you for your help. I will continue search for lawyer. Right now, I do need help to write a Opposition (Motion to Dismiss) Would you please help on write a Opposition. I don't have ability to write by myself.

 

[msenior]

If you are filing in Virginia I would recommenf file WOM instead of 1447b as Danilov case was in Fourth District court virginia you are most likely to get strick by motion to dismiss based in this case. I would recommend filling WOM with reference to 1447b clause in Jurisdiction. I have seen many lawyers in virginia filling WOM instead of hearing of naturalization. Do your research because Judges in same district courts tend to uphold all the decisions of that district court specially if the rulling judge is still active judge of district court.

I feel very safe filling 1447b in Second, ninth and third district courts. Judges in these courts have rejected Danilov argument.

Wenlock, thank you for your reply. I put myself in stage without good prepare. I feel I can't handle this case at this point.