National Immigration Law Center et al v. United States Department of Homeland Security et al.
Published: Sep. 25, 2010 | Result Date: May 10, 2010 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 2:08-cv-07092-DDP-VBK Settlement – Equitable Agreement
Court
USDC Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Katherine V.A. Smith
(Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP)
Ahilan T. Arulanantham
(ACLU Foundation of Southern California)
Jennifer L. Pasquarella
(ACLU Foundation of Southern California)
Karen C. Tumlin
(National Immigration Law Center)
Maurice M. Suh
(Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP)
Linton Joaquin
(National Immigration Law Center)
Defendant
Facts
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processes naturalization applications in the Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and San Bernardino areas. Immigrants experienced years of delays in the processing of their citizenship applications due to backlogs associated with FBI background checks.
Contentions
PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The National Immigration Law Center and the ACLU of Southern California, along with other legal groups representing the immigrants' interests, filed a class action suit against USCIS, alleging the FBI checks created undue delays despite federal law requiring the agency to process applications within six months of submission.
Result
The parties reached a settlement, requiring USCIS to adjudicate the citizenship applications within six months, as well as requiring the federal government to provide naturalization date information from the Los Angeles area to ensure processing delays do not occur again.
Other Information
FILING DATE: Oct. 28, 2008.
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