UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA G.Y.J.P., A MINOR CHILD, by and through her mother and Next Friend, M.R.P.S., Plaintiff, Case No. 1:20-cv-01511 (TNM) v. CHAD F. WOLF, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, in his official capacity, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM ORDER G.Y.J.P., a 13-year-old unaccompanied migrant from El Salvador, alleges that she was unlawfully expelled from this country based on a COVID-19-related policy that bypasses the regular procedural protections for immigrant children and asylum seekers. The Government moves to dismiss, claiming that G.Y.J.P. lacks standing because this Court cannot redress her injury as it cannot order the relief that she seeks. But the Government fixates on just one possible remedy. After reviewing G.Y.J.P.’s claims, the Court is confident that there is at least some form of relief that it could order if it determines that G.Y.J.P. has prevailed on her claims. The Court will thus deny the motion. I. Plaintiff G.Y.J.P. is a 13-year-old girl in El Salvador. Compl. ¶ 76, ECF No. 3. Her mother is a former police officer who settled in the United States after fleeing gang violence in her home country. 1 Id. ¶ 77. An immigration judge granted G.Y.J.P.’s mother withholding of removal in 2018, permitting her to stay in the United States at least temporarily. Id. Facing similar threats of violence, G.Y.J.P. ventured to the United States on her own. Id. ¶¶ 78–80. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) agents apprehended her in April 2020 as she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Id. ¶ 80. G.Y.J.P. told immigration authorities about her mother residing in the country and the dangers that she faced back home. Id. ¶ 81. She stayed in CBP custody for about a week before the Government flew her to El Salvador, where she remains today. Id. ¶¶ 83–86. The Government expelled G.Y.J.P. in accordance with new set of policies enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Id. ¶¶ 46–51. In March 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) issued an interim final rule to provide “a procedure for CDC to suspend the introduction of persons from designated countries or places” for public health purposes. 2 The agency issued the regulation under Sections 362 and 365 of the Public Health Service Act of 1944, 42 U.S.C. §§ 265, 268. Section 362 provides that the CDC may “prohibit . . . the introduction of persons and property from such countries” or designated places whenever “by reason of the existence of any communicable disease in a foreign country there is serious danger of the introduction of such disease into the United States.” 3 Citing the regulation, 1 In assessing this motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1), the Court must assume the truth of all the factual allegations in the Complaint. See Am. Nat’l Ins. Co. v. FDIC, 642 F.3d 1137, 1139 (D.C. Cir. 2011). 2 Control of Communicable Diseases; Foreign Quarantine: Suspension of Introduction of Persons Into United States From Designated Foreign Countries or Places for Public Health ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals