PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-1435 ANSBERTO FERNANDEZ GONZALEZ; VILMA OLIVARES SALGUERO; CAMELIA GUERRERO ANTONIO; JACINTO PEREZ ACOSTA, Plaintiffs – Appellants and MARIA ELENA MALDONADO JUAREZ, Plaintiff, v. KENNETH T. CUCCINELLI, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES, Defendants – Appellees. ------------------------------ ASISTA; TAHIRIH JUSTICE CENTER; FREEDOM NETWORK (USA); COALITION TO ABOLISH SLAVERY & TRAFFICKING; CASA DE ESPERANZA; NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE; NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE; NATIONAL IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CENTER; IMMIGRATION CENTER FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN, Amici Supporting Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Wilmington. Terrence W. Boyle, Chief District Judge. (7:18-cv-00135-BO; 7:18-cv- 00136-BO; 4:18-cv-00131-BO; 4:18-cv-00132-BO) Argued: May 27, 2020 Decided: January 14, 2021 Before HARRIS, RICHARDSON, and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges. Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge Richardson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Harris and Judge Quattlebaum join. ARGUED: Bradley Bruce Banias, BARNWELL, WHALEY, PATTERSON, AND HELMS, Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellants. Lori B. Warlick, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Robert J. Higdon, Jr., United States Attorney, Joshua B. Royster, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellees. Julie Carpenter, Richard Caldarone, TAHIRIH JUSTICE CENTER, Falls Church, Virginia; Sejal Zota, ASISTA IMMIGRATION ASSISTANCE, Suffield, Connecticut, for Amici Curiae Non-Profit Organizations. 2 RICHARDSON, Circuit Judge: This case presents a challenge to agency delay and inaction. Plaintiffs are aliens unlawfully present in the United States who seek U-Visas as victims of serious crimes who cooperated with law enforcement. They allege that the Department of Homeland Security has unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed adjudication of their U-Visa petitions and their applications for work authorization pending U-Visa approval. Those claims implicate interests that deserve our respect and protection, where we are so empowered. But we lack the power to review Plaintiffs’ work-authorization claims here because the agency is not required to adjudicate Plaintiffs’ requests. We may, however, review Plaintiffs’ claim that Homeland Security unreasonably delayed adjudicating their U-Visa petitions, and that claim cannot be dismissed at this early stage. We therefore dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims relating to their requests for pre-waiting-list work authorization and remand Plaintiffs’ claim relating to U-Visa adjudications. The Immigration and Nationality Act entrusts Homeland Security with discretionary authority to grant “U nonimmigrant status” to eligible unlawful aliens who are victims of serious crime and who cooperate with law enforcement. That status carries with it important benefits, including protections against deportation and work authorization. But Congress capped the number of U-Visas at 10,000 per year—meaning not all eligible U-Visa applications can be approved. In response, the agency created a “waiting list” for applicants whose applications have been approved and who would have been granted a U-Visa but for the statutory cap. Once on this waiting list, the alien is provided deferred-action status and may be granted work authorization. But before ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals