UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PENGBO LI, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Civ. Action No. 20-1122 (EGS) LOREN K. MILLER, in his official capacity, Director, Nebraska Service Center, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiffs Pengbo Li (“Mr. Li”) and Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (“Continental”) bring this lawsuit against Defendants—Loren K. Miller, Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) Nebraska Service Center (“NSC”); Tracy Renaud, 1 Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of USCIS; and Alejandro Mayorkas, 2 Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—seeking “a judicial declaration that Defendants’ actions in wrongfully denying Plaintiffs’ EB-1A 1 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), the Court substitutes as defendant the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of USCIS, Tracy Renaud, for the former Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of USCIS, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli. 2 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), the Court substitutes as defendant the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, for the former Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Chad F. Wolf. Form I-140 immigrant visa petition . . . were arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with” the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) or the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). Compl., ECF No. 1 ¶ 1. 3 Pending before the Court is Defendants’ motion to transfer venue either to the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, where NSC is located, or to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, where Plaintiffs are located. See Defs.’ Mot. Transfer Venue (“Defs.’ Mot.”), ECF No. 10-1 at 5. Upon consideration of the parties’ submissions, the applicable law, and the entire record herein, Defendants’ motion is GRANTED. I. Background On April 29, 2020, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint pursuant to the APA and INA, asking the Court to overturn a USCIS decision denying Mr. Li’s EB-1A Form I-140 petition. Compl., ECF No. 1 ¶ 1. Plaintiffs allege that: (1) “USCIS’s finding that Continental failed to demonstrate that Dr. Li’s accomplishments . . . were of major significance to the biomedical and automated driving industries lacked any indication that the agency meaningfully engaged with the voluminous evidence presented . . . , and 3 When citing electronic filings throughout this Opinion, the Court cites to the ECF page number, not the page number of the filed document. 2 lacked essential analysis of how it reached its decision,” id. at 17; (2) “USCIS’s finding that Continental failed to demonstrate that Dr. Li performed in a leading or critical role . . . reflects the agency’s complete failure to comprehend the significance of his technological accomplishments to Continental’s reputation . . . and his outsized contribution to the company’s profitability,” id. at 20; and (3) “[d]ue to its erroneous findings regarding the major significance of Dr. Li’s sensor technology accomplishments and his leading and critical role while working …
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