UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA _________________________________________ ) CHANDAN PANDA, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Case No. 20-cv-1907 (APM) ) CHAD F. WOLF, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) _________________________________________ ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiffs in this case are Indian nationals who were recently residing in the United States in lawful nonimmigrant status under temporary labor petitions approved by the Department of Homeland Security. For various reasons, they traveled to India, and now must receive visas to return to the United States. Id. Plaintiffs allege that the United States consular offices, acting under the direction of the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State, have withheld the adjudication of of their visa applications pursuant to the President’s recently issued Presidential Proclamation 10052 (dated June 22, 2020), which suspends the entry of foreign nationals within certain categories of nonimmigrant visas. Plaintiffs ask the court to preliminarily enjoin Defendants from applying Proclamation 10052 in adjudicating their visa applications, and to order Defendants to adjudicate their applications within fourteen days. Plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion raises three claims, two of which overlap substantially with claims raised in a related action, Gomez v. Trump, 20-cv-1419 (APM). The court considered the merits of those overlapping claims in that action, and reserved for adjudication in this separate action the merits of Plaintiffs’ third claim (which was not raised by the Gomez Plaintiffs), along with all non-merits defenses. For substantially the same reasons discussed in Gomez, the court concludes that Plaintiffs have not established that injunctive relief would prevent their irreparable harm or that an injunction would be in the public interest. Accordingly, the court denies Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunctive relief. Plaintiffs in this case are 169 Indian nationals with approved H-1B skilled worker petitions and their derivative beneficiaries. See Compl., Panda v. Wolf, 20-cv-1907 (APM), ECF No. 1 [hereinafter Compl.], at 21; see also Oral Arg. Tr., Gomez v. Trump, 20-cv-1419 (APM), ECF No. 122, at 54 (updating the court on the number of Plaintiffs in this action). Plaintiffs were all residing and working in the United States in lawful nonimmigrant status, but for various reasons went to India 1 and now require visas to travel back to the United States. See Pls.’ Am. Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. of Their Mot. for a Prelim. Inj., ECF No. 8 [hereinafter Pls.’ PI Mem.], at 1. They have all submitted DS-160 applications to obtain visas that will allow them to return to the United States. Id. However, on June 22, 2020, the President issued Presidential Proclamation 10052 (“Proclamation 10052”), which suspends until December 31, 2020, the entry of foreign nationals seeking admission to the United States pursuant to specified categories of nonimmigrant visas, including the visas Plaintiffs seek, unless an applicant is eligible for an enumerated exception. See 85 Fed. Reg. 38,263 (June 22, 2020). Plaintiffs allege that “consulates are withholding a final adjudication of Plaintiffs’ applications based on the application of the President’s recently ...
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