Morris v. Nielsen
| Decision Date | 17 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | 17-CV-04001 (NGG) |
| Citation | 374 F.Supp.3d 239 |
| Parties | Jamalin Patricia MORRIS, Plaintiff, v. Kirstjen M. NIELSEN, in Her Official Capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; Lee Francis Cissna, in His Official Capacity as Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; and Laura Zuchowski, in Her Official Capacity as Director of the Vermont Service Center of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Jonah Ari Peppiatt, Kelsey Brooks Clark, Amelia T.R. Starr, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.
Dara A. Olds, Reena Parikh, United States Attorney's Office, Brooklyn, NY, for Defendants.
This case arises out of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services' ("USCIS") denial of Plaintiff Jamalin Patricia Morris's petition for U nonimmigrant status pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(U). Plaintiff has moved for summary judgment, and Defendants have moved to dismiss Plaintiffs complaint or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. (See Defs. Mot (Dkt. 26); Mem. in Supp. of Defs. Mot. ("Defs. Mem.") (Dkt. 27); Pl. Mot. (Dkt. 28); Defs. Reply in Supp. of Defs. Mot. ("Defs. Reply") (Dkt. 29); Pl. Reply in Opp'n to Mot. ("Pl. Reply") (Dkt. 30).) For the following reasons, Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED, and Defendants' motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, for summary judgment is DENIED.
The underlying facts are not in dispute.
Plaintiff is a non-citizen who entered the United States on a visitor's visa in 1998. (Redacted Compl. ("Compl.") (Dkt. 8-1) ¶ 19.) Until August 30, 2007, Plaintiff lived in Brooklyn, New York, with her daughter Tricia, Tricia's two children (A.M. and R.R.), and Plaintiff's younger daughter Samantha. (Id. ) According to Plaintiff, she and Tricia "maintained an extremely close relationship." (Id. ¶ 20.) Tricia was Plaintiffs "best friend and only source of emotional support." (Id. ) Additionally, both women relied on each other "to take care of their children": Tricia would often look after Samantha, while Plaintiff would help take care of A.M. and R.R. (Id. ) Plaintiff states that A.M. and R.R. would call their grandmother "mommy." (Id. ) A.M. and R.R.'s father, Arlington Marshall ("Arlington"), allegedly did not take care of them. (Id. )
On August 30, 2007, Tricia and A.M. visited Arlington's home. (Id. ¶ 21.) While there, Arlington and Tricia got into an argument. (Id. ) As the argument intensified, Arlington locked himself, Tricia, and A.M. in the bedroom. (Id. ) Arlington then shot Tricia twice in the head and then shot himself. (Id. ) A.M. witnessed both shootings. (Id. ) When neighbors broke into the room and found Tricia and Arlington dead, A.M. was crying on the floor. (Id. )
The police called Plaintiff and informed her that A.M. was at a police station in the Bronx. (Id. ¶ 22.) Police officers picked Plaintiff up and brought her to the police station, where they informed her that Tricia had been killed. (Id. ) Plaintiff brought A.M. home from the police station. (Id. ) Since that date, Plaintiff has been A.M. and R.R.'s sole parental figure, and she has been their legal guardian since December 5, 2007. (Id. ) As a result of Tricia's murder, Plaintiff "has experienced substantial mental pain." (Id. ¶ 23.) She claims to suffer from chronic, severe posttraumatic stress disorder
("PTSD") as well as from symptoms of depression and severe anxiety. (Id. )
On April 19, 2013, Plaintiff filed a petition for U nonimmigrant status (the "Petition"). (Id. ¶ 24.) U nonimmigrant status, otherwise referred to as a "U visa," is a temporary legal status "set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and provide assistance to investigations or prosecution of criminal activity." Argueta Anariba v. Shanahan, 190 F.Supp.3d 344, 346 (S.D.N.Y. 2016). The Petition stated that Plaintiff was qualified for a U visa as a "victim of qualifying criminal activity" that caused her "substantial mental abuse," and that she had provided helpful information to law enforcement. (Compl. ¶ 5.) The Petition included a U nonimmigrant status certification ("Supplement B") signed by the Immigration Services Coordinator for the New York City Administration for Children's Services certifying that Plaintiff was a victim and identifying two crimes for which Plaintiff had provided helpful information to law enforcement: child endangerment of A.M. and the murder of Tricia.
(Id. ¶ 24.) On May 12, 2014, Plaintiff submitted a supplemental response following a request for additional materials from USCIS. (Id. ) Those additional materials included an affidavit from Plaintiff detailing her "substantial mental suffering due to her daughter's murder and her role as A.M.'s sole provider of parental care" and an affidavit signed by Jennifer H. McQuaid, a clinical psychologist, attesting to the emotional harm suffered by Plaintiff as a result of Tricia's murder. (Id. )
On December 18, 2014, the Director of the USCIS Vermont Service Center denied Plaintiff's Petition (the "Denial Letter"). (Id. ¶ 25.) The Denial Letter stated that Plaintiff could not be a direct victim of the qualifying criminal activity because she was not physically present at the time of Tricia's murder. (Id. ) USCIS re-mailed the Denial Letter to Plaintiff on June 10, 2015, after originally sending it to the wrong address. (Id.; July 10, 2015, Notice of Appeal (AR at 41).) Plaintiff filed an appeal from the Denial Letter with USCIS's Administrative Appeals Office (the "AAO") on July 10, 2015. (Compl. ¶ 26.) The AAO denied Plaintiff's appeal on October 10, 2016, "for largely the same reasons that USCIS provided in the Denial Letter" (the "AAO Decision"). (Id. ) It also stated that she did not qualify as an indirect victim of child endangerment because a legal guardian does not qualify as a parent. (Id. ¶ 49.)
Plaintiff filed her complaint with this court on July 5, 2017, seeking declaratory judgment and attorneys' fees and costs. (Compl.) The complaint alleges that the AAO Decision is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (the "APA") because it (1) "reads a new requirement of physical presence into an agency's determination of direct and proximate harm" and (2) "failed to consider the evidentiary record in determining whether [Plaintiff] had been proximately harmed." (Id. ¶ 56.) The complaint also challenges the conclusions that Plaintiff could not be an indirect victim of the qualifying crime because she was not A.M.'s legal guardian at the time of the crime and was not in a parent-child relationship with A.M. (Id. )
Within two months of filing her complaint, Plaintiff sought leave to move for summary judgment; a month later, Defendants sought leave to move to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint or, in the alternative, cross-move for summary judgment. (See Aug. 30, 2017 Letter (Dkt. 12); Oct. 12, 2017 Letter (Dkt. 15).) The court granted both sides leave to file their cross-motions and ordered a briefing schedule. (See Oct. 20, 2017 So-Ordered Briefing Schedule (Dkt. 17).) Following numerous extensions of time, the cross-motions were fully briefed on March 22, 2018. (See Defs. Mot.; Defs. Mem.; Pl. Mot.; Defs. Reply; Pl. Reply.)
In support of her motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff argues that the AAO's decision was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the APA and that USCIS's interpretation of the U-visa regulations does not warrant deference. (See Pl. Mot.) Defendants, on the other hand, argue that USCIS's interpretation is permissible and entitled to deference, and that USCIS's ultimate determination was correct. (See Defs. Mem.)
The purpose of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) is to test the legal sufficiency of a plaintiffs claims for relief. Patane v. Clark, 508 F.3d 106, 112 (2d Cir. 2007). In reviewing a complaint, the court must accept all allegations of fact as true, and must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. ATSI Commc'ns, Inc. v. Shaar Fund, Ltd., 493 F.3d 87, 98 (2d Cir. 2007).
A complaint will survive a motion to dismiss if it contains "sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ " Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ). "A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Id. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937. "[M]ere ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘formulaic recitation[s] of the elements of a cause of action’ " are insufficient; "the complaint's ‘[f]actual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.’ " Arista Records, LLC v. Doe 3, 604 F.3d 110, 120 (2d Cir. 2010) (emphasis in original) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ).
A court will grant summary judgment when "the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). "Where, as here, ‘a court is called upon to review agency action under the APA, the question presented is a legal one which the district court can resolve on the agency record on a motion for summary judgment.’ " City Club of New York v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs, 246 F.Supp.3d 860, 864 (S.D.N.Y. 2017) (quoting Cty. of Westchester v. U.S. Dep't of Hous. & Urban Dev., 116 F.Supp.3d 251, 275-76 (S.D.N.Y. 2015), aff'd, 802 F.3d 413 (2d Cir. 2015) ).
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