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

[lazycis]

Hi Shvili, thank you very much for your encouragement. I was thinking real hard trying to justify the $5000+ bill. My worries are that in the past, the AUSA kept asking me if I hired a lawyer, I think that maybe if I have a lawyer, they will treat my case differently. But thank you very much, I think I will give this a try by myself.

Missingpa, I read that you started your OPP already, is that possible you can share some base documents so I can start working on?

$5000 seems a lot just to write the OPP. Shvili and I can do it for half the price
Seriously, it is not reasonable to spend $5000 for OPP. Try to find a lawyer who will do it for $1000-2000 (if you have a feeling lawyer will help in your case, it's a priority). Otherwise, you can do it yourself. You have a month to prepare, if you spend 1 hour a day, it will be easy. Look at other successfull OPP (start from cases posted on wiki). It seems that Missingpa has a good grip on it and other members will help you, I am sure.

 

[toolong2]

mismatch information on N400 and future interview

I have a big problem now, I'm preparing for filing a lawsuit for 1447(b) for N-400 name check pending, I can not find my copy of N-400 application.

I don't remember what I put in for the employment history and past residence addresses, I only know that the info I put in when filing was not very accurate, e.g. I didn't list all the short-term jobs, neither listed a few places I lived temperarily, the problem is, I don't remember exactly what I put in! I filed the N400 4 years ago and passed the interview in 2003.

If I file a lawsuit, when I need to go to the hearing in court or a new interview, I think I'll be charged for providing untrue information and that'll be a BIG problem. What do you think? Help please!!!

 

[lazycis]

Hi, Lazycis and others:
I wonder if any of you have some suggestions or others had same experience, after the motion hearing date, well, the Judge is supposed to make some decision. However, in my case, it was 5/14/07 motion hearing, but since then, there was nothing happening at all. I files my opposition to AUSA's MTD. Now, the AUSA just kept sending in supporting cases to the court, which makes me think they just want to dismiss the case, and he may not even contact the USCIS to work this out at all. In the meantime, I hear nothing from the court. I am in New Jersey. So, as I have read, it seems not to be a good state for the WOM case now.
thanks much!
41906

You can also send cases in your support. Review your opposition, may be you can make it stronger. File amened opposition with new cases. I think it may not be a bad sign that the judge has not dismissed your complaint yet. If s/he wanted to, why wait? Look up your case in pacer. Was MTD forwarded to judge for advisement/consideration? If yes, expect a decision within a week or two after that date.

 

[AGC4ME]

yvesliu,
There is a link to the wikipages on fbi namecheck in this thread. Use it to file your OPP to MTD. Also if you do not understand the legalese you can just call court clerk and clarify your questions. You can also check http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FBI_name_check for good OPP to MTDs. BTW I'm following your case closely as my company might file a WOM for me shortly in the same district court.

 

[lazycis]

I have a big problem now, I'm preparing for filing a lawsuit for 1447(b) for N-400 name check pending, I can not find my copy of N-400 application.

I don't remember what I put in for the employment history and past residence addresses, I only know that the info I put in when filing was not very accurate, e.g. I didn't list all the short-term jobs, neither listed a few places I lived temperarily, the problem is, I don't remember exactly what I put in! I filed the N400 4 years ago and passed the interview in 2003.

If I file a lawsuit, when I need to go to the hearing in court or a new interview, I think I'll be charged for providing untrue information and that'll be a BIG problem. What do you think? Help please!!!

Send FOIPA request to USCIS and request a copy of your application if you submitted N-400 by yourself. If you had a lawyer who did it for you, ask lawyer, s/he should have a copy or file FOIA request.
Just google for uscis foia request or go to
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/us...nnel=34139c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

for instructions.

 

[amyamy]

Hi Shvili, thank you very much for your encouragement. I was thinking real hard trying to justify the $5000+ bill. My worries are that in the past, the AUSA kept asking me if I hired a lawyer, I think that maybe if I have a lawyer, they will treat my case differently. But thank you very much, I think I will give this a try by myself.

Missingpa, I read that you started your OPP already, is that possible you can share some base documents so I can start working on?

Hello Friend,

You can write the OPP by yourself. You can find a list in privious pages about the successful and unsuccessful cases. Read them and your AUSA's MDT carefully. It takes time, and then you will find that you can do it. You can choose any successful case OPP and start it. Anyway, read your AUSA's MDT carefully.

Amy

 

[KBLI]

H guys,
I found this document about how to writ a "first amended complaint" i would like to share with the forum. And i am writing one myself and Lazycis has been a great help. Thank you Lazycis for all your help. You don't know how much they mean to me. God bless you!

You can find more Pro Se information and form at this website: http://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/General_Information/Court_Forms/

KBLI

 

[lazycis]

Congress supports our view of APA provisions

The legislative history of the APA is equally supportive of the Plaintiff's view. The House Report explained that what is now 5 U.S.C. 555(b) means "that no agency shall in effect deny relief or fail to conclude a case by mere inaction, or proceed in dilatory fashion to the injury of the persons concerned. No agency should permit any person to suffer injurious consequences of unwarranted official delay." H.R. Rep. No. 1980, 79th Cong., 2d Sess 32 (1946). See also S. Rep. No. 752, 79th Cong., 1st Sess. 19 (1945) ("no agency shall in effect deny relief or fail to conclude a case by mere inaction").
Similarly, the legislative history of the APA described the predecessor to 5 U.S.C. 706(1) as "recogniz(ing) the right of properly interested parties to compel agencies to act where they improvidently refuse to act." H.R. Rep. No. 1980, supra, at 44; S. Rep. No. 752, supra, at 28.

 

[sambocico2]

Magistrate vs federal judge

I filed an I-485 based WOM back in 2/6/2007. The case was assigned to magistrate judge. AUSA filed a motion to dismiss. The attorney filed an opposition and responded to the motion. The magistrate judge recused and the case was assigned to a federal judge.

What does that mean? What is the difference between a magistrate judge and a federal judge? Is it good or bad to have a judge vs a magistrate judge. Does political affiliation have any effect on the judge's decision?

 

[nastena]

Hi all, today is a bad day. First, I sent the AUSA an email yesterday about the Joint Alternate Dispute Resolution Report which is due june 6, and here is her reply. "I will prepare a joint ADR report. It will state that the Government does not want to use ADR . What is your position? I will leave it here with the receptionist on the 6th floor for you to stop by and sign. It will not be ready until 3 p.m.". I don't know if I should sign it, so, I called her. She called me back later which I missed it and she left a message saying she filed the MTD. And if I don;t want to sign the Joint ADR report, they will tell the court that they can not reach me. After I recieved the message, I went to Pacer and saw the MTD. The MTD is very short. "Defendants, by XXXX, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, and through, XXXX, Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the District of Oregon, moves this Court to Dismiss the above entitled litigation for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and/or for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). Page 2 Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss XX v. Chertoff et al, CV XXXX Grounds for this motion are set forth in the Defendants’ Memorandum in support of this motion. Pursuant to Local Rule (LR) 7.1 Defendants Counsel contacted Plaintiff XXX, pro se, and he opposes this motion.".

Is this MTD very bad? I know I will file the counter motion soon, and I know there are some samples here I can use. But for now, do I need to sign the ADR?

You just need to file opposition to motion to dismiss. Your AUSA doing the standart steps.

 

[Mingjing]

Regarding costs, I paid $3500 for initial filing, and then later on my lawyer billed me another $2000 for filing MTD. So my total out of pocket is $5500. Fortunately, my I485 was approved before we had to officially file opp to MTD. And unfortunately, my lawyer already complete the opp draft, so I no longer could get any $ back.

My lawyer then promptly voluntarily dismissed the case. From hindsight, I am thinking may be I could have asked my lawyer just file Opp. to MTD, and then I can handle from there by myself, in the hope that I can convince the judge I still qualify for government to reimburse my attorney costs despite the fact that name check cleared before judge rule. I think the request is still reasonable - I would not have had to pay $5500 my own money if government had not failed to perform their none-discretionary action.

Hind sight is always 20:20 though - I remember I was paranoid about anything else could go wrong as well until I got the actual card.

Bottom line is I am happy for the final outcome, but I am still angry how we have been treated in the last few years, and the pain. It will never leave me.

Thank you for your advice. In my district of federal court, 99% case got MTD whether it is pro se or through attorney. So far only one case the judge grant deny to MTD. Other cases (some are from Jan 2007) are still waiting for judge's decision. The picture is not clear.

The WOM attorney charges 3k, it only includes filing the initial complain. If the case can not be resolved and needs file opposition of MTD or other litigation, those are extra and will be calulated in hourly base. Seems the fee will be out of my control which concerns me a lot.

Another thing worries me that I will file EAD and APs very soon. If I file WOM, will USCIS stop process my EAD and APs, or just delay to process them? I don't know if WOM will have any negtive affect on our green case or any related cases with USCIS.

Please give your comments.

 

[nastena]

Lazycis, kefir and other pro:
We went to the conference yestarday with proposition of discovery plan that had mine and AUSA position in separate paragraphs. Magistrate judge give some points to that and ask AUSA ro reformat and include suggestion to the plan. Just got e-mail from AUSA. He took out all our opinions (where we asked for the USCIS file and timeline to resolve case and all docs. related to it) and just left his.

"With respect to discovery of electronic documents, the defendants consider technical matters regarding the functioning and capabilities of their agencies’ systems as privileged, and, in some circumstances at least, such information may be classified. Accordingly, while the defendants may disclose some aspects of what can be done that may be relevant to the issues in this case, they will not disclose the technical details considered sensitive.
6. Should the Court require discovery to go forward, the defendants will produce discoverable electronically stored information in printed form on paper or in PDF format from its original electronic format in the first instance. To the extent that the printed or PDF document does not indicate information which may be important, such as the date, location and specific terminal on which the document was created or modified, the sender and all recipients of electronically transmitted data, and the locations of the terminals on which it is stored, upon request related to particular documents the defendants will determine that information (if relevant in the discovery sense) from the electronic document and include it, perhaps on a cover sheet, which in an intelligible form reasonably reflects the electronic information on the system. "
Does it seems reasonable? Is it something fishy in that part?

 

[Mingjing]

This is indeed good news, not only for the implication to immigration benefits, but also what the hell in the world US wants to sink itself into the realm of darkness and tyranny? I would worry about this amendment even in the hands of a competent administration...

Secret Evidence Amendment Fails!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007…Today, by a vote of 46-51, the US Senate voted down Senator Cornyn’s amendment (#1184) that would have allowed the use of secret evidence. This legislative success is a direct result of the thousands of opposition calls that flooded Senate offices over the past few weeks. Had it passed this dangerous amendment could have denied lawful permanent residents the opportunity to become U.S. citizens based on secret evidence.
ADC chapters and activists from across the country responded enthusiastically to the call to help defeat the Cornyn amendment. Congratulations on your legislative victory and thank you for all of your work!

 

[lazycis]

Lazycis, kefir and other pro:
We went to the conference yestarday with proposition of discovery plan that had mine and AUSA position in separate paragraphs. Magistrate judge give some points to that and ask AUSA ro reformat and include suggestion to the plan. Just got e-mail from AUSA. He took out all our opinions (where we asked for the USCIS file and timeline to resolve case and all docs. related to it) and just left his.

"With respect to discovery of electronic documents, the defendants consider technical matters regarding the functioning and capabilities of their agencies’ systems as privileged, and, in some circumstances at least, such information may be classified. Accordingly, while the defendants may disclose some aspects of what can be done that may be relevant to the issues in this case, they will not disclose the technical details considered sensitive.
6. Should the Court require discovery to go forward, the defendants will produce discoverable electronically stored information in printed form on paper or in PDF format from its original electronic format in the first instance. To the extent that the printed or PDF document does not indicate information which may be important, such as the date, location and specific terminal on which the document was created or modified, the sender and all recipients of electronically transmitted data, and the locations of the terminals on which it is stored, upon request related to particular documents the defendants will determine that information (if relevant in the discovery sense) from the electronic document and include it, perhaps on a cover sheet, which in an intelligible form reasonably reflects the electronic information on the system. "
Does it seems reasonable? Is it something fishy in that part?

AUSA refers to electronic documents here so I do not see anything out of the ordinary. Let them produce a paper copy and redact classified info.
What about non-electronic documents. Does AUSA mention anything in that regard?

 

[missingpa]

Rough draft of the OPP

Hi yvesliu,

I am just another rookie on this board like you and I have been getting help from shvili, lazycis, paz, dude and others. Attached is my draft of the OPP that will be submitted in about 10 days. I am also attaching my MTD. Feel free to look through them if it's of any help to you. If you want the source file in Word format, please PM me and I will e-mail it to you.

Lazycis' answers to my questions yesterday were especially enlightening, and I have yet to revise my OPP some more. In the mean time, guys, please give me some comments on how to improve it.

I went back and forth with shvili's "green card lottery" argument and decided not to use it, partly because I am not sure if I have a good grasp of that issue to elaborate it well.

Hi Shvili, thank you very much for your encouragement. I was thinking real hard trying to justify the $5000+ bill. My worries are that in the past, the AUSA kept asking me if I hired a lawyer, I think that maybe if I have a lawyer, they will treat my case differently. But thank you very much, I think I will give this a try by myself.

Missingpa, I read that you started your OPP already, is that possible you can share some base documents so I can start working on?

 

[missingpa]

A question about citation

Hi guys,

I was wondering if the following is the right way to cite the Reyes case in the attached file:

Reyes v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., No. CV06-6726, (C.D. Cal. April 16, 2007) (“the Attorney General is not vested with complete discretion in deciding whether to process petitioner's 1-485 application; as a result, subsection (ii) - which by its express terms applies only to those actions that lie in the discretion of the Attorney General - does not divest the court of jurisdiction.”)

Specifically, my confusion is that the following citation contains "2007 WL 781399", which I don't know where to extract, and the page number is denoted "*3."

Tjin-A-Tam v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., No. 05-23339-CIV, 2007 WL 781339, *3 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 12,2007)

 

[wait4luck]

Mingjing, what do you think to make your case standout of the others?

Regarding costs, I paid $3500 for initial filing, and then later on my lawyer billed me another $2000 for filing MTD. So my total out of pocket is $5500. Fortunately, my I485 was approved before we had to officially file opp to MTD. And unfortunately, my lawyer already complete the opp draft, so I no longer could get any $ back.

My lawyer then promptly voluntarily dismissed the case. From hindsight, I am thinking may be I could have asked my lawyer just file Opp. to MTD, and then I can handle from there by myself, in the hope that I can convince the judge I still qualify for government to reimburse my attorney costs despite the fact that name check cleared before judge rule. I think the request is still reasonable - I would not have had to pay $5500 my own money if government had not failed to perform their none-discretionary action.

Hind sight is always 20:20 though - I remember I was paranoid about anything else could go wrong as well until I got the actual card.

Bottom line is I am happy for the final outcome, but I am still angry how we have been treated in the last few years, and the pain. It will never leave me.

Mingjing, thanks for your info and glad for your victory. If you don't mind, could you please share your thoughs on my question here. I am just wondering what has made your case stand out so that your NC and Green card were resolved even before filing Opp to MTD? Is it because you were lucky to have a nice AUSA? Did you submit a strong / distinctive reason with the WOM complain so that FBI expedited your NC, or just because it's your turn since you have been waiting long enough? I see most of the cases filed in early this year are still on Judge's desk waiting for decision of MTD. May be your experince can give us some hint on how to make our case stand out.

 

[toolong2]

Lazycis,

Thanks a lot for your help. I just filed G-639 but was told they won't response until 1.5 years later....

Another urgent question: How to verify if my file is lost with USCIS?

I called USCIS at different times the past 3 days and was given different answers:

1st phone call said my file is in DC national office and pending NC

2nd phone call said my file is in my current state's local office A and pending NC

3rd phone call said it's still with my previous state's local office B (I moved 1 year ago to A) and did get some response from FBI in April 07, but can't tell if it's "no record, cleared" or just an update of "still pending name checking"

4th phone call said they can not tell where it is now, and only know it's pending.

I've scheduled infopass next week to the local office A (where I live), will infopass feedback be accurate and trustworthy? or still might not be the truth? How to find out exactly where my file is, is it lost or not?

 

[sambocico2]

Need some explanation

I filed an I-485 based WOM back in 2/6/2007. The case was assigned to magistrate judge. AUSA filed a motion to dismiss. The attorney filed an opposition and responded to the motion. The magistrate judge recused and the case was assigned to a federal judge.

What does that mean? What is the difference between a magistrate judge and a federal judge? Is it good or bad to have a judge vs a magistrate judge. Does political affiliation have any effect on the judge's decision?

 

[lazycis]

Lazycis,

Thanks a lot for your help. I just filed G-639 but was told they won't response until 1.5 years later....

Another urgent question: How to verify if my file is lost with USCIS?

I called USCIS at different times the past 3 days and was given different answers:

1st phone call said my file is in DC national office and pending NC

2nd phone call said my file is in my current state's local office A and pending NC

3rd phone call said it's still with my previous state's local office B (I moved 1 year ago to A) and did get some response from FBI in April 07, but can't tell if it's "no record, cleared" or just an update of "still pending name checking"

4th phone call said they can not tell where it is now, and only know it's pending.

I've scheduled infopass next week to the local office A (where I live), will infopass feedback be accurate and trustworthy? or still might not be the truth? How to find out exactly where my file is, is it lost or not?

If they do not respond in 20 days, you can file a lawsuit pursuant to 5 USC 552. It's a pity you do not have an urgent need, it would be 10 days.

Go for infopass, but do not put a lot of trust into it. FOIPA request is the way to go. Here is one of my infopass experiences: I came to find the status of my AOS and they ask me: "Our records show that you case has been sent to different service center today. Do you know which one?"