Marlon Guardado Galeas and Angelica Apolinar Julian v. Kristi Noem, John Doe, Angelica Alfonso-Royals, and Christopher Heffron

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina granted defendants’ motion to dismiss claims seeking placement on the U-visa waiting list and employment authorization. The court held that it lacked jurisdiction over claims concerning delayed adjudication of discretionary work-authorization requests and that plaintiffs had not plausibly shown that the approximately thirteen-month delay in waiting-list adjudication was unreasonable under the TRAC factors. The court also dismissed the corresponding Mandamus Act claim and directed the Clerk to close the case.

Holdings

1. The court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs' claims challenging the withholding or delay of work-authorization adjudications before placement on the U-visa waiting list because the Secretary and USCIS were not legally required to adjudicate or grant such discretionary work authorization.
2. Although Plaintiffs' claim concerning a waiting-list determination was ripe and judicially reviewable, Plaintiffs failed to plausibly allege that the approximately thirteen-month delay was unreasonable under the Administrative Procedure Act.
3. The mandamus claim failed because the standard for unreasonable delay under the Mandamus Act is identical to the APA standard, and Plaintiffs did not plausibly allege unreasonable delay.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court had subject-matter jurisdiction over claims alleging that Defendants unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed adjudication of Plaintiffs' pre-waiting-list work-authorization requests.
2. Whether Plaintiffs plausibly alleged that Defendants unreasonably delayed adjudicating their U-visa petitions and determining their eligibility for placement on the U-visa waiting list under the Administrative Procedure Act.
3. Whether Plaintiffs' mandamus claim failed because the alleged delay was not unreasonable under the applicable standard.

Disposition

dismissed