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

[paz1960]

I filed a WOM case for my pending I485 case on Oct. 3 rd in District of MA. I called the clerk today and I was told that the original judge rescued himself for knowing the director of FBI. My case was given to a different judge. Has anyone here had this kind of experience? This is so werid. I might be wrong because I thought that the clerk told me at the begining was one of the defendents complained that the original judge gave him hard time before and he requested the judge change. Well, I hope this judge change would not affect my case.

Hi frankxie,

I don't think that the judge change will affect your case at all. And besides that, there is no reason to worry about things where you have absolutely no influence to change them. This is like the weather, you may like it or not, you have to live with it (unless you are willing to relocate to Hawaii).

 

[zenusa]

Thoughts?

To file N400 you have to be in that district/State for at least 3 months. Is AR11 their(USCIS) only proof? If that so how to go back and find out the exact date of my change address? In actuality my stay in the state is more than 3 months but in AR11 I may be in the border line. I am just trying to clear out possibility to refuse me later when I file suit. Your thought is appreciated. Thanks

 

[milena]

Signed stipulation to dismiss

I signed the stipulation to dismiss my case yesterday with AUSA. So I should be getting my oath letter soon and for the up coming ceremony.

My judge was Sim Lake known as the "Enron" Judge and he granted a hearing.
TThe other Judge was Ken Hoyt who never even allow a discovery to take place. I contacted some of those members in this forum who had their case denied flatly. (They were very discouraged and may now be seeking a class suit. They even had AILF cosponsor their cases.) I was also discouraged
at first about the district I was filing in b/c 6 people got their case thrown out and any one who filed after april 06 in Houston may have a legal fignt. I did more research and found out there was a new DO CIS director and top USA who had systematically coordinated an aggressive counter campaign to squash such lawsuits. But I was not deter b/c with a little research I was able to discover in this forum how to answers their strategy and on pacer, I was able to find out that all judges will rule differently and consistently.

In most 1447 lawsuits there are no difficulty 90% success rate but their was a high percentage of cases stalled at the Houston district which before april 06 was relatively easy to win. It can change in any district as well.
Hope this will help for any one who get their case challenge by a stubborn AUSA and local CIS office. Beware of bad judges too.

I was fortunate to get a judge to allow my case go to hearing which it never need to reach b/c the AUSA knew this judge will be more sympathetic than not.

milena:

Congratulations ! Your resolve played a role !

Did the judge ever assign a hearing date for you ? Is the judge the same person as who slamed the previous 6 ?

Thank you sharing !

 

[Moon_g]

Hi Paz1960 and other friends here!
I have had a lot helps from you, thanks! I hope follows are the last questions.

I served Summon + Complaint to each defendants yesterday and
Summon set + Complaint to US Atty local and general today. What should I do next?

1. Do I need to send summon set with filled back + mailling receipts to district court right now?
2. When should I call to the Local US Atty office? What should I ask??
3. For the Delayed Name Check case, who will give me the last anwser? I don't understand, how is the process going?
Thanks!

 

[paz1960]

Hi Paz1960 and other friends here!
I have had a lot helps from you, thanks! I hope follows are the last questions.

I served Summon + Complaint to each defendants yesterday and
Summon set + Complaint to US Atty local and general today. What should I do next?

1. Do I need to send summon set with filled back + mailling receipts to district court right now?
2. When should I call to the Local US Atty office? What should I ask??
3. For the Delayed Name Check case, who will give me the last anwser? I don't understand, how is the process going?
Thanks!

1. You need to fill out the back of the summonses and attach Proof of delivery from USPS after you have these "green cards" (return receipts) or printouts from the USPS web page, which actually shows when the mail was delivered. I will file these in the court when I will have all my confirmations that the mails were delivered.
2. There is no rule when you should call the US Attorney's office. Some time will pass until they assign somebody to your case, and that person (the AUSA - assistant US Attorney) most likely will not begin working on your case immediately. People on this forum said that they called the US Attorney office in about a month after they served that office. I'll try to call them after Thanksgiving. You should tell them that you would like to introduce yourself to the AUSA who was assigned to your case (you should have your case number ready) and after they transfer your call to the right person, you tell him/her that you are calling to find out if anything you can help to resolve this case before actually goes in front of the Judge. Try to be very polite but firm, willing to cooperate with AUSA but don't get intimidated if they try that. Usually it pays out to build a good working relationship with AUSA. (S)he will work hard on your case to get solved before goes to the Judge, because they know that there is a high probablility that you will win. Nobody likes to defend a lost case...
3. For your case (and in all the similar cases) the ultimate answer will come from USCIS. in my opinion, it is highly unlikely that any Judge in this country would adjudicate your N-400 or I-485 application without a completed security background check.

The whole purpose of the lawsuit is to force USCIS+FBI to act. Usually, filing the complaint triggers an expedite request from USCIS to FBI. Most of the cases reach the completed name check and ready for adjudication stage before the lawsuit advances to the trial phase. But there were couple of cases where actually there was an order by the judge.

If your namecheck is not ready before the 60 days expire, the defendants (their counsel=AUSA) have to answer something, ask for an extension or file a motion. They do this 1. because are required by the court rules, 2. they want to buy more time to FBI+USCIS to complete your case. If they file a Motion to Dismiss, you have to oppose that, otherways the judge will throw out your case. Time is going, and most likely USCIS+FBI will be done with your case before actually an order is made by the judge. If not, your goal is that the judge order sends back (remands) your case to USCIS, BUT WITH A SPECIFIC TIMELINE! In other words, the whole purpose of the lawsuit is to force USCIS to finish you case in certain time.

I hope that this clarifies the whole process a little bit.

 

[paz1960]

To file N400 you have to be in that district/State for at least 3 months. Is AR11 their(USCIS) only proof? If that so how to go back and find out the exact date of my change address? In actuality my stay in the state is more than 3 months but in AR11 I may be in the border line. I am just trying to clear out possibility to refuse me later when I file suit. Your thought is appreciated. Thanks

Hi zenusa,

I'm not sure if there is a way to find out when your address change notice was actually processed in the USCIS database. Maybe an Infopass appointment can answer this question, eventually a call to the 800 number.

But I would be very cautious and would not file a N400 application before I am absolutely sure that I fulfull all the legal requirements (in your case the 3 months residence at your present address before the filing). Did you send your AR11 with certified mail, return receipt required? If you have the return receipt with the confirmed delivery date, that can be your start date to count the 3 months.

 

[paz1960]

I signed the stipulation to dismiss my case yesterday with AUSA. So I should be getting my oath letter soon and for the up coming ceremony.

My judge was Sim Lake known as the "Enron" Judge and he granted a hearing.
TThe other Judge was Ken Hoyt who never even allow a discovery to take place. I contacted some of those members in this forum who had their case denied flatly. (They were very discouraged and may now be seeking a class suit. They even had AILF cosponsor their cases.) I was also discouraged
at first about the district I was filing in b/c 6 people got their case thrown out and any one who filed after april 06 in Houston may have a legal fignt. I did more research and found out there was a new DO CIS director and top USA who had systematically coordinated an aggressive counter campaign to squash such lawsuits. But I was not deter b/c with a little research I was able to discover in this forum how to answers their strategy and on pacer, I was able to find out that all judges will rule differently and consistently.

In most 1447 lawsuits there are no difficulty 90% success rate but their was a high percentage of cases stalled at the Houston district which before april 06 was relatively easy to win. It can change in any district as well.
Hope this will help for any one who get their case challenge by a stubborn AUSA and local CIS office. Beware of bad judges too.

I was fortunate to get a judge to allow my case go to hearing which it never need to reach b/c the AUSA knew this judge will be more sympathetic than not.

milena, it would be very important to know the exact sequence of happenings in the 6 cases which were thrown out in Houston.

After their complaint, did the US Attorney office file a motion to dismiss?
Did the Planintiffs properly oppose these motions? (i.e., in time, with no procedural, or other formal flaws). Before we draw any conclusion from these unfortunate cases we would need to know a little bit more about the details.

 

[milena]

You can ask members in this forum who go by the member name IKEE and SAKUN b/c they were part of the 6 cases that was thrown out by their judge name Ken Hoyt. They will be able to tell you in deep detail how they had the bad draw of the luck with that judge. All I can say in summary is at least 6 people file WOM/1447 petition that was represented by their attorneys. Their cases were remanded back to CIS with out a hearing or discovery. The AUSA also try file to dismiss their case with elaborate arguments from FBI Cannon/District CIS director. The Plaintiffs also counter the motion but the judge struck them down, no hearing. On top of that AILF step in to help their case but had no success. It was all struck down flat.
I could post their petitions but I have to repect their privacy and they would have to
step forward to tell their war stories. You can confirm this by going on to Pacer to S.Tex district and queue in the date 03/06 -10/06 and look for 1446 cases. This will reveal the complete story of events.

 

[what'sinaname]

Lawyer suggestion

Ky 120 days post interview is up. Had three Infopass appointments and did not find anything more than name check is still pending.

I want to use an attorney to file. Any good suggestions? I live in Virginia and would file in Eastern District (Alexandria)

Thanks in advance

 

[Moon_g]

Very kind of you paz1960, Thanks!

1. You need to fill out the back of the summonses and attach Proof of delivery from USPS after you have these "green cards" (return receipts) or printouts from the USPS web page, which actually shows when the mail was delivered. I will file these in the court when I will have all my confirmations that the mails were delivered.
2. There is no rule when you should call the US Attorney's office. Some time will pass until they assign somebody to your case, and that person (the AUSA - assistant US Attorney) most likely will not begin working on your case immediately. People on this forum said that they called the US Attorney office in about a month after they served that office. I'll try to call them after Thanksgiving. You should tell them that you would like to introduce yourself to the AUSA who was assigned to your case (you should have your case number ready) and after they transfer your call to the right person, you tell him/her that you are calling to find out if anything you can help to resolve this case before actually goes in front of the Judge. Try to be very polite but firm, willing to cooperate with AUSA but don't get intimidated if they try that. Usually it pays out to build a good working relationship with AUSA. (S)he will work hard on your case to get solved before goes to the Judge, because they know that there is a high probablility that you will win. Nobody likes to defend a lost case...
3. For your case (and in all the similar cases) the ultimate answer will come from USCIS. in my opinion, it is highly unlikely that any Judge in this country would adjudicate your N-400 or I-485 application without a completed security background check.

The whole purpose of the lawsuit is to force USCIS+FBI to act. Usually, filing the complaint triggers an expedite request from USCIS to FBI. Most of the cases reach the completed name check and ready for adjudication stage before the lawsuit advances to the trial phase. But there were couple of cases where actually there was an order by the judge.

If your namecheck is not ready before the 60 days expire, the defendants (their counsel=AUSA) have to answer something, ask for an extension or file a motion. They do this 1. because are required by the court rules, 2. they want to buy more time to FBI+USCIS to complete your case. If they file a Motion to Dismiss, you have to oppose that, otherways the judge will throw out your case. Time is going, and most likely USCIS+FBI will be done with your case before actually an order is made by the judge. If not, your goal is that the judge order sends back (remands) your case to USCIS, BUT WITH A SPECIFIC TIMELINE! In other words, the whole purpose of the lawsuit is to force USCIS to finish you case in certain time.

I hope that this clarifies the whole process a little bit.

Hi, paz1960:
Very clear and helpful! Even some lawyers in Chicago don't know how to file this kind of case. They just suggested me "Wait". I called a lawyer in CA to inquire how much she will charge for this case (she can do it), she told me I need to pay $3800. Right now I filed Pro Se through people helps like you only cost $350 for the court. You should work as a part-time lawyer after your case solved I think!
Thanks!

 

[milena]

A Better Way

As more and more of these cases shows up in the courts, the USA & CIS will also adjust their tactics to lessen their work load and will seriously challenge
more of these law suit to create a deterrence such as the case of S. Tex District.

There are lot of common questions about summons, certificate of service and serving the defendant and filing as civil case or miscellaneous. These are
tried and true methods.

The normal/traditional process which have already been explain on this site
is serve each defendants, HD, CIS, FBI, AG, etc. (including AUSA) with a summon and mail each with certified mail and pay the $350 filing fee and last file a certificate of service.

However if your district court does provide this service there is a better way
which reduce paper and cost. Instead Use the money saved in pacer to size up your type of case. The summon is part of the petition.
File as Miscellaneous Case - filing fee is $40.
Ask clerk if they file electronically. All defendants will be served with out needing to mail them a physical summon-- this will also be order by the judge.
No need for certificate of service, but you can always send one if you need reassurance.

So lawyers around the country file their legal brief electronically, there is no reason a pro se can not use this method just as effectively than the snail mail routine. Again please check with your district court clerk for this stream line procedure. It economical and fast track everything.

 

[annat]

Any examples?

Thank you paz1960,

I got the Pro Se hand book, do you have any examples of Opposition to such Response?and how should I add FOIA? in the Opposition?

 

[ghelt]

1447(b) worked like a charm.

I wanted to thank those who setup this forum - my case was adjudicated in about 1.5 months from the date I filed my 1447(b) based on 120 days post-naturalization-examination. I filed in LA (Central district) pro-se.

Trust your AUSA - when s/he promised that USCIS will adjudicate in 2 weeks, it really does happen (in 10 days after Judge signed the order to dismiss the case without prejudice, I got my Oath letter scheduling me for Oath ceremony on Nov 14th, 3 weeks from order to dismiss).

Just let the process work - your anxiety will needlessly build-up the final days.

The $350 filing fee was certainly worth it. Lawyers viewing this thread, I apologize for the potential business lost.

Few learning lessons and experiences:

o Be polite, curtious to the the AUSA, and trust his promise to adjudicate.

o The AUSA was kind enough to show me that this office was not served at the right address and with the right verbiage on the copy of the summons/petition I sent them (I didn't include the "Clerk phrase" and use the right address).... but, they served me back a letter showing exactly how to serve them properly. This was a very decent act, which they didn't need to do.

o Only once I *filed* the "proof of service of summons" at the court did I promptly get a response from AUSA. He called me in a few says to discuss a resolution, and e-mailed me the same day a proposal to dismiss w/out prejudice with the promise the USCIS will adjudicate in 2 weeks.

o Enroll in PACER (online case system) - it's cheap and easy to verify your case status and filings.

o Pay attention to local court rules.

You can do this yourself - and don't get discouraged and intimidated, the Due Process of Law was made for ALL residents of America, citizen and not, including those direly wanting to be citizens to vote and contribute to the future laws of this great land!

 

[zenusa]

You can confirm this by going on to Pacer to S.Tex district and queue in the date 03/06 -10/06 and look for 1446 cases. This will reveal the complete story of events.

What is 1446? Is that what you look for in the PACER to find open or close case? I sure didn't see any 1447. Could anyone please elaborate on this kindly? I am still learning. Thanks a bunch.

 

[cajack]

yes. 1446 naturalization hearing case is the same as 1447(b) case. As I understand, it is the way the court name these kind of lawsuit in the system.

hope it helps,

Jack

What is 1446? Is that what you look for in the PACER to find open or close case? I sure didn't see any 1447. Could anyone please elaborate on this kindly? I am still learning. Thanks a bunch.

 

[anand74]

Advise on filing 1447(B)

Hi
I am thinking for filing a 1447(b) for delay of adjudicating N400 due to Multiple A files. I would be filing in Newark NJ. Can somebody who have done there please help about their experience(s). How long were you called after filing 1447(B).
Thanks.

 

[paz1960]

What is 1446? Is that what you look for in the PACER to find open or close case? I sure didn't see any 1447. Could anyone please elaborate on this kindly? I am still learning. Thanks a bunch.

hi zenusa,

Go to the South Texas District Court page with PACER and do a Query, putting Chertoff as the last name of party and select ALL cases. There will be about 53 cases shown, I found randomly one of the cases thrown out by the judge mentioned by milena (and I found milena's case too).

Although there are couple of cases with similar outputs also in the Eastern District of Michigan when the judge ultimately remanded the case to USCIS with the instruction that they should adjudicate the case immediately AFTER receiving the name check results, but at least the Michigan judge(s) (I don't remember if these cases were all under the same judge or not, maybe lotechguy or 786riz can confirm or infirm this) but at least the judge gave a chance to both parties plead for their cases. The judge in these cases accepted jurisdiction but used the second option what 1447(b) allows: remand the matter to the Service with appropriate instructions.

Honestly, besides the lucky scenario that your case is completed before reaches the judge, this would be the maximum what we can hope, BUT WITH A VERY IMPORTANT ADDITION: the judge should remand the matter back to USCIS, specifically setting a timetable. In my opinion this is why it is important to include in the list of defendants the FBI Director. Because in this case the judge can order one of the defendants (FBI) to complete the name check in 30 (60, 90) days (depending how long you waited already, and how brave are you to ask for the shorter deadline). But see my Prayer I posted couple of pages before.

 

[paz1960]

yes. 1446 naturalization hearing case is the same as 1447(b) case. As I understand, it is the way the court name these kind of lawsuit in the system.

hope it helps,

Jack

Practically you are right, but to be precise, 1446 refers to the TITLE 8 > CHAPTER 12 > SUBCHAPTER III > Part II > § 1446
§ 1446. Investigation of applicants; examination of applications
see at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/usc_sec_08_00001446----000-.html

 

[wenlock]

Relief info

Guys I need some help what to put in relief.
I am filling WOM pro se for pending N-400 keep in mind my interview is not scheduled yet so I do not qualify for 1447(b) I can only file WOM My priority date is June 23rd 2005.

What should I ask in relief just to adjucate application in 30 days

or

also to FBI that they process my Name check

also Do you ask court to take Jurisdiction in WOM case I thought it was only in 1447(b) cases but not sure please highlight

Not sure about this also one more thing My field office is Charleston SC and District is Atlanta
Who should I sue Officer in charge of Charleston Sc or District Director?

I am not sure who will call me for interview Charleston or Atlanta I have few friends in neigbourhood some got interview in Charleston others got in Atlanta so I am not sure who is my processing office.

I think I am the first person filling for WOM based on N-400 without interview.
I know they stopped scheduling for interview after May 26th internal Memo.

Let me know I have a lot of ammo including FOIPA, Senators letters, Congressman, First Lady, Presendent's office, Senete immigration commatee letter, FBI emails to justify that I have exhausted every administrative avenue available. they all say same thing NAME CHECK

I am also suing them on both WOM and Adminstrative Procedure Act as mentioned in AILF best practices about WOM. I have read the law and it make sense to me so I am adding on that based too. I have seen very few but well written suit using both so I am sure it apply but let me know ur thoughts

I will not sit and relax till I will get it done period.

Please help me make decision on relief and who to sue.

Wenlock

 

[Bushmaster]

Guys, I came back from ATL last night, I could not sign on.

There are absolutely no major developments, at least I made sure the darn N400 is not lost or anything, still pending background check.


But listen to this, it is very interesting. 2 different immigration information officers told me and my buddy from my platoon that if we have orders to deploy, they will take care of the background checks OVERNIGHT!

I am like WHAT!, you have the will, ability and capacity to do it overnight, but you won't do it?

I have gotten responses from a senator and a congressman. USCIS Congressional Liason says in one email to the congressman "please send me evidence of military deployment, I will see what I can do"

I will send them the evidence of EXPIRED 120 days, here is your summons! See you before the judge!