UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ) MOHAMED SALEH KUSSEM, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 21-cv-1441 (TSC) ) ANTONY J. BLINKEN, in his official ) capacity as United States Secretary of State, ) et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiffs Mohamed Saleh Kussem (“Mohamed”), Nagib Mohamed Kussem (“Nagib”), and Ali Mohamed Saleh Kasem (“Ali”) have sued U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Ian Brownlee, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Jonathan Cohen, and a John Doe Consular Officer from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, all in their official capacity. Plaintiffs seek to immigrate to the United States, and they allege that Defendants have failed to adjudicate Nagib’s and Ali’s visa applications within a reasonable amount of time in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). ECF No. 1, Compl. ¶¶ 1–3. Plaintiffs petition for a writ of mandamus to compel Defendants to adjudicate their visa applications. Compl. ¶ 3. Defendants moved to dismiss, ECF No. 4, Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss, and for reasons explained below, the court will GRANT Defendants’ motion. I. BACKGROUND Mohamed is a U.S. citizen residing in Kentucky. Compl. ¶ 4. His children, Nagib and Ali, are citizens and residents of Yemen who seek to immigrate to the United States. Compl. ¶¶ 5–6. On January 14, 2004, Nagib and Ali received approval of their I-130 Petitions for Alien Relatives based on their relationships to Mohamed. Compl. ¶¶ 16–17. They applied for immigrant visas in May 2015, after which their applications were transferred to various consulates before reaching the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Compl. ¶¶ 1, 18. In March 2018, they completed their immigrant visa interviews at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, but their applications were subsequently denied under Presidential Proclamation 9645. Compl. ¶¶ 19–21. Then-President Trump issued Presidential Proclamation 9645 on September 24, 2017, banning citizens of seven countries, including Yemen, from entering the United States. See Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public Safety Threats, 82 Fed. Reg. 45,161 (Sept. 24, 2017). The Proclamation established a case-by-case waiver system under which “consular officers may grant waivers to a foreign national” if the foreign national demonstrates that denial would result in undue hardship, entry would not pose a threat, and entry would be in the national interest. Bagherian v. Pompeo, 442 F. Supp. 3d 87, 91 (D.D.C. 2020); 82 Fed. Reg. 45,161, 45,168. The Proclamation was upheld by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii, 138 S. Ct. 2392, 2423 (2018). In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Department suspended routine visa services at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates. See Suspension of Routine Visa Services, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/suspension-of-routine-visa- services.html (last updated July 22, 2020). As of November 19, 2021, the Bureau of Consular Affairs was attempting to “reduc[e] wait times . . . while also protecting the health and …
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