Case: 17-10445 Date Filed: 02/14/2018 Page: 1 of 12 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 17-10445 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 1:16-cv-21525-JLK MIGUEL DURON, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus DIRECTOR ENID STUL, USCIS Hialeah Field Office, Field Office Director, Defendant, DISTRICT DIRECTOR LINDA SWACINA, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Miami District Director, UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES, USCIS, USCIS HIALEAH FIELD OFFICE, Defendants-Appellees. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (February 14, 2018) Case: 17-10445 Date Filed: 02/14/2018 Page: 2 of 12 Before TJOFLAT, WILLIAM PRYOR, and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Plaintiff Miguel Duron, a native and citizen of Honduras, appeals the district court’s order dismissing his complaint filed pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 701, and the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, against Defendants Linda Swacina and Enid Stulz, Miami District Director and Hialeah Field Office Director at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, respectively. In his complaint, Plaintiff sought a declaration that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’s (“the Immigration Service”) denial of his application for adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident—based on its determination that he was ineligible under 8 U.S.C. § 1255(c)(2) for failing to maintain continuously a lawful status since entry into the United States—was arbitrary, capricious, and otherwise not in accordance with the law. On appeal, Plaintiff argues that his grant of temporary protected status (“TPS”) overcomes § 1255(c)(2)’s bar on adjustment of status for aliens who have failed to maintain continuously a lawful status since entry into the United States. After careful review, we affirm. 2 Case: 17-10445 Date Filed: 02/14/2018 Page: 3 of 12 I. BACKGROUND A. FACTS The relevant facts are not in dispute. Plaintiff, a native and citizen of Honduras, entered the United States without inspection in December 1997. On January 5, 1999, following a hurricane in Honduras, the Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security1 designated Honduras for inclusion in the TPS program. A foreign state is designated for inclusion in the TPS program if “certain conditions exist in [the] country . . . including the occurrence of an environmental disaster, that results ‘in a substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions in the area affected.’” Mejia Rodriguez v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 562 F.3d 1137, 1140 (11th Cir. 2009). An alien granted TPS is not subject to removal from the United States during the period in which that status is in effect and is also entitled to work authorization during that time. 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(a)(1). Plaintiff applied for TPS on August 12, 1999. The Immigration Service granted his application on April 7, 2000. In 2001, Plaintiff married a lawful permanent resident. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiff’s wife filed a Form I-130, Alien Relative Petition on his behalf, which was approved in 2006. 1 “Although the statute governing TPS refers to the Attorney General as the decisionmaker, the authority ...
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