On September 5, 2019, the Irish International Immigrant Center filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The plaintiff sued U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) and the President of the United States under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Declaratory Judgment Act. The plaintiff, represented by the ACLU and private counsel, sought injunctive and declaratory relief, claiming violations of the APA and the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment. The plaintiff alleged that USCIS had illegally terminated an immigration relief program that granted “deferred action” to seriously ill individuals and their families.

For decades, USCIS has operated a humanitarian program that allowed immigrants battling serious illnesses to request immigration relief in the form of deferred action. The program helped to prevent deportation of seriously ill individuals and their families by allowing them to apply for work authorization and for protection against removal proceedings by ICE. In August 2019, the Trump Administration suddenly prohibited USCIS field offices from granting deferred action to the individuals who could ordinarily be protected by this program.

On October 29, 2019, the parties jointly moved to stay the case in order to allow them to pursue a settlement or other nonjudicial resolution to the dispute. On October 31, 2019, the judge stayed the case until January 28, 2020. The case is ongoing.

Peter Harding - 10/30/2019


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