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DHS, fed officials agree to suit’s dismissal
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and other federal officials have agreed to the dismissal of a lawsuit over the denial of a Bangladeshi worker’s 2012 petition for a Commonwealth-only worker, or CW-1 permit.
Johnson and his co-defendants, through assistant U.S. attorney Jessica F. Wesseling, made the dismissal request with the U.S. District Court for the NMI together with plaintiffs Angando Inc. and Moniruzzaman Masud, through their counsel Joseph E. Horey.
When asked by Saipan Tribune yesterday as to why the parties agreed to the dismissal of the case, Horey said the parties were not inclined to pursue the matter further. He gave no further comments.
Johnson, USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez, USCIS California Service Center director Rosemary Langley Melville, Angando Inc. and Masud jointly asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI several times in the past few months that they be allowed to provide the court with another status report, as the court previously ordered.
Angando Inc. and Masud sued the U.S. government, Johnson, Rodriguez, and Melville after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied Angando Inc.’s CW-1 petition for Masud.
The plaintiffs asked the court to declare that Masud was lawfully present in the CNMI at the time of Angando’s petition, and is eligible for CW-1 classification.
Horey wants the court to compel the defendants to classify Masud as an alien eligible for a CW-1 visa, and to approve Angando’s petition to employ him.
In September 2015, the parties told the court that the USCIS Administrative Appeal Office has remanded Angando’s petition for CW-1 permit for Masud to the USCIS California Service Center for further review. The parties then stated that the USCIS Administrative Appeal Office has withdrawn its prior decision.
USCIS denied Masud’s and Angando’s petition for CW-1 permit on the grounds that the employer had not established that he was lawfully present in the CNMI at the time the petition was filed. The plaintiffs asserted that Masud obtained an umbrella permit in 2009, which proved he was lawfully present in the Commonwealth.
