UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA P.J.E.S., a minor child, by and through his father and next friend, Mario Escobar Francisco, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Civ. Action No. 20-2245 (EGS) CHAD F. WOLF, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, et al., Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff P.J.E.S., a 15-year-old minor from Guatemala who entered the United States as an unaccompanied minor in August 2020, brings this action against Chad F. Wolf in his official capacity as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security and various other federal government officials (“Defendants” or the “Government”) for violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq.; the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (“TVPRA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1232; the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq.; and the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (“FARRA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1231 NOTE. Pending before the Court are Plaintiff’s motion for class certification (“Pl.’s Cert. Mot.”), ECF No. 21, and motion for a classwide preliminary injunction (“Pl.’s Prelim. Inj. Mot.”), ECF No. 15. Magistrate Judge Harvey’s Report and Recommendation (“R. & R.”) recommends that this Court provisionally grant the motion for class certification and grant the motion for preliminary injunction and . See R. & R., ECF No. 65 at 2. The Government has objected to several of Magistrate Judge Harvey’s recommendations. See Gov’t’s Objs., ECF No. 69. Raising no objections to the R. & R., Plaintiff asks this Court to adopt Magistrate Judge Harvey’s recommendations to grant both motions. See Pl.’s Resp. to Pl.’s Objs. (“Pl.’s Resp.”), ECF No. 72 at 7. Upon careful consideration of the R. & R., the Government’s objections, Plaintiff’s response, and the relevant law, the Court hereby ADOPTS the R. & R., ECF No. 65, PROVISIONALLY GRANTS Plaintiff’s (1) Motion to Certify Class, ECF No. 2, and GRANTS Plaintiff’s (2) Motion for Preliminary Injunction, ECF No. 15. I. Background The factual background and procedural history in this case are set forth in the R. & R. See R. & R., ECF No. 65 at 3-15.2 1 When citing electronic filings throughout this Opinion, the Court cites to the ECF header page number, not the page number of the filed document. 2 The Court accepts as true the allegations in the operative complaint for purposes of deciding this motion, and construes them in Plaintiff’s favor. See Baird v. Gotbaum, 792 F.3d 166, 2 A. Factual Background 1. Pre-COVID-19 Pandemic Prior to the current COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to the TVPRA, unaccompanied children who entered the United States and were nationals of countries that do not share a border with the United States were required to be transferred to the care and custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (“DHH”) Office of Refugee Resettlement (“ORR”), within 72 hours of their detainment, for placement in the “least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child.” 8 U.S.C. § 1232(b). Unaccompanied children from countries that ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals