Jamshid IRSHAD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jeh JOHNSON, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; Rendell Jones, Acting Deputy Director of the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services; F. Gerard Heinauer, Director of the Nebraska Service Center; Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States; James B. Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 12-3870
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
Submitted: Nov. 20, 2013. Filed: June 11, 2014.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Aug. 21, 2014.
754 F.3d 604
1. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2), Secretary Johnson is automatically substituted for Janet Napolitano; Acting Deputy Director Jones is substituted for Michael Aytes; and Director Comey is substituted for Robert S. Mueller.
Aaron S. Goldsmith, USDOJ-OIL, argued Washington, DC (Bradley B. Banias, USDOJ-OIL and Laurie M. Barrett, AUSA, Omaha, NE, on the brief), for Appellee.
COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.
Jamshid Irshad, a native of Afghanistan, filed suit seeking to compel the Attorney General of the United States, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Acting Deputy Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“The USCIS“), and the Director of the Nebraska Service Center for the USCIS (collectively “the officials“) to decide immediately his pending application for adjustment of status. The district court2 granted summary judgment in favor of the officials. Irshad appeals, and we affirm.
I.
Irshad was born in Afghanistan in 1972. Following the former Soviet Union‘s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Irshad aided the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, one of many groups—collectively known as the Mujahidin—that opposed Soviet-backed forces. Irshad supported the group by carrying supplies and giving tours to Western journalists in Afghanistan. In 1988, Irshad fled to the United States. He was granted asylum in 1998.
On March 22, 1999, Irshad filed an I-485 application with the USCIS to adjust his status from asylee to lawful permanent resident. On February 15, 2008, the USCIS denied Irshad‘s application for adjustment of status because his transportation of supplies for the Mujahidin constituted material support of an undesignated terrorist organization. See
In 2007, however, Congress significantly broadened the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security to exempt aliens from the terrorism-related inadmissibility provisions of
Pursuant to that policy memorandum, the USCIS reopened Irshad‘s application on April 29, 2008, and placed it on adjudicatory hold. According to the officials, Irshad‘s application “remains pending because Irshad may, eventually, benefit from a discretionary exemption for his inadmissibility.” The officials assert that the hold inures to Irshad‘s benefit, because “[i]f the USCIS were to end its adjudicatory hold on Irshad‘s . . . [a]pplication and adjudicate, the USCIS would likely deny it.”
On August 10, 2012, the Secretary of Homeland Security gave the USCIS broad
Irshad filed suit against the officials on May 16, 2012. Invoking the mandamus statute,
The officials moved to dismiss Irshad‘s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim. Alternatively, they moved for summary judgment, arguing that the USCIS‘s delay in adjudicating Irshad‘s adjustment-of-status application was reasonable. They submitted a declaration of Francis J. Doyle, the Acting Assistant Center Director of the Nebraska Service Center for the USCIS, attesting to the following:
- Irshad admitted in his asylum application that he had provided support to the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan;
- Prior to the 2007 legislation and the March 2008 memorandum, Irshad was inadmissible because of his provision of support to an undesignated terrorist organization;
- Irshad‘s application remained pending due to the 2007 legislation and the March 2008 memorandum;
- Between mid-2006 and February 29, 2012, the USCIS had granted more than 14,000 exemptions in cases involving terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds;
- Throughout the adjudicatory hold, Irshad had been fingerprinted “to ensure that the case [would be] ready to be adjudicated once all other issues [we]re resolved“; and
- If ordered to adjudicate Irshad‘s application, the USCIS would likely deny it.
In response, Irshad submitted his own declaration attesting that the adjudicatory delay “infringed on [his] peace of mind” and that he preferred to receive a ruling on his application one way or another, rather than be subjected to an indefinite hold.
The district court denied the officials’ motion to dismiss. The court ruled that neither
Irshad appeals. The officials do not contend on appeal that any statute precluded the district court from consider
II.
Irshad argues that the officials have unreasonably delayed adjudication of his application for adjustment of status. The APA requires an agency to proceed to conclude a matter presented to it “within a reasonable time,”
We need not decide whether an extreme delay by the government in adjudicating an adjustment-of-status application could amount to a “failure to act,”
The period of relevant delay here runs from April 2008, when Irshad‘s application was reopened, through the district court‘s consideration of his action in 2012. Irshad‘s application is on adjudicatory hold because of the changes in law and policy in 2007 and 2008 that first gave the Secretary authority to grant Irshad the exemption from inadmissibility provisions that he desires. The time between Irshad‘s filing of his application for adjustment of status in 1999 and the creation of this new exemption authority in 2007-08 was not attributable to the officials. Irshad was ineligible for adjustment of status before these changes in law and policy, and the agency denied his application in February 2008 because of his previous material support for a terrorist organization. The delay attributable to the officials, therefore, is less than five years.
To evaluate the reasonableness of delay, the parties embrace the analysis of the D.C. Circuit in Telecommunications Research & Action Center v. FCC, 750 F.2d 70, 80 (D.C. Cir. 1984). Applying that approach, the officials’ delay in adjudicating Irshad‘s adjustment-of-status application is not unreasonable. Congress has not dictated any timetable for the Executive to make sensitive terrorism-related decisions in this area. There is no indication that the deliberative process of the government officials in this case is a sham. We agree with the district court that “[t]he [officials‘] decision regarding the application must be based upon a high-level analysis of complex, sensitive factors that implicate national security, foreign policy, and humanitarian interests, and the [officials have]
Without the exemption process allowed by the 2007 legislation and the 2008 policy memorandum, Irshad would have been denied adjustment of status based on his provision of material support to a terrorist organization. Changes in law and policy have created an opportunity for the Executive Branch, in its discretion, to grant Irshad relief that otherwise would be unavailable to him. Irshad‘s complaint that the government is taking too long to decide about the availability of an exemption is not well taken under the circumstances.
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The judgment of the district court is affirmed.