Major Singh Jammu v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

Summary

The magistrate judge recommends granting USCIS’s motion to dismiss Major Singh Jammu’s action seeking to compel adjudication of three Form I-730 petitions that had been pending for more than five years. Applying Fifth Circuit precedent interpreting the Immigration and Nationality Act’s jurisdiction-stripping provision, the report concludes that the court lacks jurisdiction to review the pace of adjudication of discretionary I-730 petitions. The report also notes that the extraordinary delay does not overcome the jurisdictional bar.

Holdings

1. Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) strips the district court of jurisdiction to review USCIS's delay in adjudicating Form I-730 petitions because the underlying relief under 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(3)(A) is discretionary.
2. The court could not use the APA or Mandamus Act to compel USCIS to adjudicate the I-730 petitions because the INA's jurisdiction-stripping provision precluded review of the challenged discretionary agency action.
3. The court recommended granting USCIS's Rule 12(b)(1) motion and dismissing the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court had subject-matter jurisdiction under the Administrative Procedure Act or Mandamus Act to review USCIS's alleged delay in adjudicating discretionary Form I-730 petitions.
2. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) strips federal courts of jurisdiction to review the pace of adjudication of petitions for which the Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security has discretion to grant relief.
3. Whether the complaint should be dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1).

Disposition

dismissed