Private counsel prepared for his client, an applicant for naturalization, a complaint to be filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the heads of the FBI, of the Department of Homeland Security, and of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS"), as well as against the USCIS district director in Philadelphia and "unknown US Federal Government Agency or Agencies." [sic] The complaint stated that plaintiff's application for naturalization had been pending for more than three years since its' submission on March 19, 2004, and remained unadjudicated well past the 120 period that the plaintiff alleged applied in his case, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b). He alleged that the defendants attributed the adjudication delay to agency failure to complete a security background check regarding the plaintiff. In addition to the alleged 120 day period violation, the plaintiff alleged that the delay in excess of a year violated an unspecified provision of the Administrative Procedure Act entitling him to judicial relief under 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) and violated his constitutional (presumably Fifth Amendment) due process rights.

The complaint requested declaratory relief, a mandamus order that the defendants schedule a naturalization interview and issue a decision within 30 days, and grant plaintiff's costs and attorneys' fees.

We have no other documents in this case other than a copy of the complaint, which is not filed-stamped and contains typographical errors. We are unable to say it was filed precisely as our copy reads, nor do we have further information about activity in this case.

Mike Fagan - 07/02/2008


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