Taalebinezhaad v. Chertoff
Decision Date | 09 October 2008 |
Docket Number | Civil Action No. 08-10990-RBC. |
Citation | 581 F.Supp.2d 243 |
Parties | M. Ali TAALEBINEZHAAD, Plaintiff, v. Michael CHERTOFF, et al., Defendants. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
Rachael S. Rollins, United States Attorney's Office, Boston, MA, for Defendant.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON MOTION FOR REMAND (# 4)
On June 12, 2008, pro se plaintiff M. Ali Taalebinezhaad ("Taalebinezhaad") filed a complaint (# 1, Plaintiffs Orginal [sic] Complaint for Declaratory and Injuctive [sic] Relief and Writ in the Nature of Mandamus to Compell [sic] Defendants' Determinatin [sic] of Plaintiffs N-400 Naturalization Application) pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b), seeking to compel the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") to take action on his application for naturalization.1 On July 30, 2008, after Taalebinezhaad had filed his complaint in federal court, USCIS denied Taalebinezhaad's N-400 application, citing Taalebinezhaad's lack of good moral character. After receiving USCIS's letter denying his application, on August 7, 2008, Taalebinezhaad filed his Motion for an Expedited Hearing before the End of August 2008 on his Original N-400 Naturalization Application Complaint (# 5), urging the Court to make a merits determination on his application. On August 11, 2008, the government filed a Motion for Remand and Memorandum in Support (# 4), asking the Court to remand the matter to USCIS. The Court heard oral argument on the parties' positions on August 12, 2008. The immediate question before the Court is whether the Court ought to determine Taalebinezhaad's application for naturalization, or to remand the matter to USCIS.
The following facts are undisputed. Taalebinezhaad, a native of Iran, became a lawful permanent resident on June 8, 2000, and has resided in the United States since September 1985. (# 1 ¶¶ 1, 28) He obtained both his M.S. and Ph.D. from MIT. (# 1 ¶ 1) Taalebinezhaad filed his N-400 application for naturalization ("N-400") on November 4, 2005. (# 1 ¶¶ 1, 28) A USCIS officer interviewed Taalebinezhaad on March 13, 2006. (# 1, Exh. 2) Thereafter, USCIS informed Taalebinezhaad that he had passed the required English language and United States history and government tests, but that a decision could not be made on his application because of a pending "FBI name check."2 (# 1, Exh. 2)3
At the time Taalebinezhaad filed his complaint in federal court on June 12, 2008, about twenty-seven months had passed since Taalebinezhaad's interview and USCIS had not rendered a decision on his application. In the meantime, on August 6, 2006, Taalebinezhaad got married in Iran. (# 1 ¶ 1) He now complains that his wife cannot join him in the United States because he cannot sponsor her without becoming naturalized. (# 1 ¶ 1) On July 30, 2008, less than two months after Taalebinezhaad filed his complaint, USCIS denied Taalebinezhaad's application for naturalization citing Taalebinezhaad's "lack of good moral character." (# 5, Exh. 1)
Because USCIS had not determined Taalebinezhaad's N-400 application within 120 days of Taalebinezhaad's naturalization interview, Taalebinezhaad was entitled by statute to apply to the federal district court for a hearing on the matter. See 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b). According to statute, the federal court "has jurisdiction over the matter and may either determine the matter or remand the matter, with appropriate instructions, to the Service to determine the matter." Id. Recently, the First Circuit has determined, in accord with the majority view, that once a naturalization applicant has filed a complaint in federal district court upon USCIS's failure to render a decision within the 120 days required by statute, the district court assumes exclusive jurisdiction over the matter. Aronov v. Chertoff, 536 F.3d 30, 38 & n. 6 (1st Cir.2008) ( ). Thus, USCIS' July 30, 2008 denial of Taalebinezhaad's N-400 application is null and void, see id.; the government has conceded as much. Thus, the only remaining question before the Court is the remedy, i.e., whether to adjudicate the matter or to remand it to USCIS. Obviously, given USCIS' delay in addressing his application, Taalebinezhaad would prefer the Court to conduct a merits hearing and to determine the matter, while the government urges the Court to remand the case.
The government argues that remand would permit the agency to develop an administrative record, and to permit USCIS, the agency charged with determining naturalization applications, to act in the first instance. The Court is mindful that this rationale undergirds the decisions of the many courts that have elected to remand these cases to USCIS. See, e.g., Israileva v. Chertoff, No. 07-21, 2008 WL 1766663, *1 (M.D.Fla. Apr. 17, 2008) () (quoting INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16, 123 S.Ct. 353, 154 L.Ed.2d 272 (2002)); Sallam v. Mukasey, No. 07-11380, 2008 WL 687409, *1 (D.Mass. Mar. 5, 2008) (Zobel, J.) ( ); Hussain v. Chertoff, 486 F.Supp.2d 196, 200 (D.Mass. 2007) (Wolf, C.J.) ( ); Farooq v. Hansen, No. 07-0946, 2007 WL 2177890, *4 (N.D.Ohio July 27, 2007) ( ); Khelifa v. Chertoff, 433 F.Supp.2d 836, 844-845 (E.D.Mich.2006) ( ). The rationale seems most paramount in instances in which the FBI has not yet completed its background check, and where security concerns have not been resolved at the agency level. See, e.g., Alhamedi v. Gonzales, No. 07-2541, 2007 WL 1573935, *3 ( ); Al Saleh v. District Director, USCIS Detroit, No. 06-13372, 2007 WL 925693, *3 (E.D.Mich. Mar. 28, 2007) ( ); Issa v. Mueller, 486 F.Supp.2d 668, 674 (E.D.Mich.2007) (same) (and cases cited). Although Taalebinezhaad's application remained pending for over two years because the FBI name check was "pending," the government has not maintained (either in its papers or at oral argument) that that remains the case.
Otherwise, the Court notes that although remand is often the ordinary course, some courts (including two in this circuit) have elected to exercise their statutory authority to adjudicate the merits of naturalization applications, particularly in the face of protracted agency delay. See, e.g., Omran v. Dep't of Homeland Security, No. 07-187, 2008 WL 320295, *3, 5 (S.D.Ohio Feb. 4, 2008) (...
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