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Judge intends to dismiss CUC lawsuit vs DHS
The federal court plans to grant a petition to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and 13 of its CW-1 workers.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona said Tuesday that she is planning to issue a written decision soon reflecting this.
At a status conference on Tuesday, Manglona said she is currently working on a written decision on the motion to dismiss filed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and co-defendants.
According to the minutes of the conference, Manglona stated that her decision at this point is to grant the motion to dismiss.
She also stated that the detailed decision articulating the reasoning for this ruling will be issued shortly.
Because of this, all pending future hearings on the matter shall be vacated.
James Sirok appeared as counsel for CUC and its 13 Commonwealth-only transitional workers. U.S. Department of Justice Office of Immigration Litigation assistant director Glenn M. Girdharry appeared as counsel for DHS, the DHS secretary, and several other co-defendants.
CUC and 13 of its foreign workers are suing then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson and others for allegedly not acting on CUC’s petitions for CW-1 permit renewals.
The plaintiffs are also suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah R. Saldana, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez.
Sirok alleged that the failure of USCIS to make a determination on the CW-1 renewal petitions violates Administrative Procedure Act.
CUC and its 13 CW-1 workers want the court to prevent Johnson and his co-defendants from enforcing the CW-1 cap for fiscal years 2013 through 2017.
They claim that the manner used to arrive at the cap is “arbitrary, capricious, and results in an abuse” of the DHS secretary’s “limited discretion.”
DHS argued, among other things, that it has unfettered discretion to set the cap in any manner and make it applicable to the CW-1 petitioning process.
CUC disclosed last year that it employs over 300 workers, including 42 nonresident workers.
