****Hearing date rescheduled to June 3, 2004****

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

See below:
U.S. District Court

District of Columbia
Case Name: IMMIGRATIONPORTAL.COM et al
Case Number: 1:03-cv-2606
Docket Text:
Initial Scheduling Conference set for 5/14/2004 at 10:00 AM. The Court will also hear the motion on class certification. These hearings will go forward in courtroom 16 before Judge James Robertson.
____________________________________

Now here is what may be helpful. If 50-60 potential plaintiffs (people whose I-485 are pending) were to show up in court. No slogans or public display. Just quiet attendance. Form a list of who can come. The hearing is on a Friday at 10 AM. I am not sure the court will have enough room for all, but I would like to be able to tell the court that the Class is solidly behind this lawsuit. I would like some volunteers to maintain an attendance sheet so we know how many class members are there.

I would like us to win the class action motion.


I will be fairly busy. You can contact Rena in our office for any issues.

P.S. I will check only this thread over the next two weeks. So post here whatever you want to contribute folks.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

Originally posted by getit
Dear Rajiv,

I am crossing my hands to pray we will win!!

Just a friendly reminder -- did we tell AILA this lawsuit? maybe it is a good time to let it know if we didn't, AILA is going to have a conferrence on May 4 for servere backlog problem.

I have not informed AILA officially but several members know.

I did notify AILF. Their response was negative. Their opinion was this case should "never have been filed." So, I let them be. In my opinion, win or lose, an effort must be made. This we did and will continue to do - opinions to the contrary notwithstanding.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

Naah, we need no publicity at this time

Originally posted by Ray S.
Rajiv, if you need any print publicity for this cause I have contacts with reporters at The Washington Post (District of Columbia based reporters) to vent displeasure at the present state of affairs at USCIS.

Check this out: (may be we need their help)

US Senate launches India caucus
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3672821.stm

Good luck 'n may the force be with you!

Let me know
/Ray
email: utharay@yahoo.com

If we win the class action motion, we may need publicity Ray. Thanks.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

This is an important hearing

Originally posted by dsatish
Rajiv,
Most likely i will be there in DC on 5/14 (subject to leave sanction).
Could you please elaborate on what will normally be the proceedings on a opening day ? Will there be detailed hearing or just preliminary introductions and nothing else ? If it were to be mere exchange of formalities then it may not be worth for people to come there. People can attend a more important hearing in future. Please remember that it needs a lot of sacrifice(applying for leave, loss of pay, travel etc) and extreme commitment from people for making it to the hearing. I agree that this sacrifice or commitment is nothing compared to the sevice you are doing for our community. I hope that people will keep that in mind.
Also can some one who is not going to be plaintiff, also come for the hearing (or) only the potential plaintiffs need to come ?

Please clarify. I am talking more for the people than myself. So please do not misunderstand.

Usually, scheduling conferences just address issues of procedure, but they even are themselves important.

But this hearing is about the class action motion ALSO. Thus, probably one of the most important milestones in our case.

I expect the govt. to fight mostly on two issues: that three plaintiffs are employeees of our firm (our response, so what?) and second that the class members have conflicting interests and disparate legal situations (our response - irrelevant variations).

Usually, when a hearing is scheduled, it could be mixed news for both sides. This means the court does not consider the case to be clear cut, one way or another.

The Courts will have limited seating. So, not everyone may be able to make it (if a lot of people come). I will go by and see the capacity of Court 16 and let you folks know next week.

I see no reason for people other than potential plaintiffs to attend. But, this is a public hearing. So long as people are orderly, anyone can come.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

What is likely to happen at the hearing?

We will get good sense of what the Court is thinking about this issue right now.

The court will probably not issue a ruling on the class action right away.

Adjourments are very rare.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

Do not stress out trying to attend

If you can make it - great. If not, that is just fine. I have to be there, noone else does.

I am concerned about a couple of issues that could cause problems. But those are legal hassles, not much anyone can do.

If the court does not throw our claims out, the next major hearing is likely to be the Summary Judgment Motions and then finally the trial. So there are likely to be only three court appearances.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

Sure

Originally posted by o1eb1
I will be in the cort.

I am also trying to convince a couple of my friends (All EB1 and NIW) to attend the court too (everybody is affraid of the USCIS backslash).

Rajuv, If you need I can give you some of my personal details, I think that I could be very helpful - as far as to counter "National Security" defense questions.

If needed, I am prepared to stand as a witness. Let me know if I should call you at the office number and when.

I cannot disclose everything here, in this forum, because other lawyer does my immigration, but I think that some of my details can be very helpful for the lawsuit.

Call Extension 102 and ask Rena to put us together on the phone.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

Risks

They can NOT reject applications or delay them because of our filing the lawsuit. Three plaintiffs have already been approved.

Risk is inconvenience and some expense. The court may ask you to travel to DC for a deposition (we sit in a room and the CIS lawyer can ask you questions about your case) or to appear as a witness.

I see no other risk.

But keep asking. I will answer.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

The goal

Originally posted by brokenarrow
Rajiv,

I moved from West coast to East coast, but am maintaining a c/o address in West Coast for GC purposes. If I were to sit for a deposition, would this go against the class action case? Or against my case?

What is the goal of this deposition, in a nutshell?

We will try to narrow their goals and even ask the court to issue an order curtailing or denyig the right of deposition. Where there is an irregularity in the 485, they can make an issue of it. But 99% of 485's should not have any such problems IMHO.

A case like yours, I would have to know more facts before I can comment.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

The court is under control of the judge

What we can or cannot tell the court will depend upon the circumstances we encounter while we are in there. But I do have all your suggestions in kind. So keep them coming.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

That is correct

Originally posted by hidden_dragon
My guess is, Rajiv will ask court to deny USCIS's right to request deposition from plaintiffs.

We intend to request the court to let Defendants ask questions in writing only.

 

[Rajiv S. Khanna]

Re: some points

Originally posted by sg_rg2
Rajiv,

I want to raise some points that you might consider asking the CIS lawyers. If you have already thought about them or consider them not so important, please ignore.

1. Why are adjudications out of order i.e., random, particularly at TSC? How come TSC is adjudicating cases from 2002 (as posted in TSC discussion board) when they have failed to clear cases from 2001? The evidence of this random act can easily be seen from the scanning that several TSC members have been doing for some time. For example, from my notice date (Sep 2001) about 25% of cases are still pending while we see lot of approvals of Jan-Feb, 2002 NDs.

2. Why is the time of adjudication for normal cases (no age-out or special cases) so variable? For example, 50% of cases filed on my date (Sep 2001) were adjudicated within 15 months whereas 25% of cases from that has not been adjudicated in more than 30 months. I am certain that the 50% of the cases that were approved within 15 months could not have been special situations.

3. You should also contend that the "stringent background checking" excuse CIS has been giving as a cause of delay is faliciuos. It is in the best interest of this nation to do the checks quickly. If a potential terrorist files a I485 application knowing that he can be here for 3 years without status problems, isn't that a long time to plan and carry out the subversive act. The terrorists who implemented the Sep 11 tragedy were here for much less time and achieved their goals.

4. How can CIS rationalize implementing pilot projects to adjudicate applications within 90 days when others are waiting for over 900 days? They complain about resources and here is a prime example of flawed policy where the priority is clearly wrong. The can implement such projects only after they have cleared the backlog.

Thanks, once again, for fighting for us. Good luck at the hearing.

sg_rg2

Very good points. Thanks.