Guide to the AILA Lawsuit Against USCIS and DHS

As many of you may be aware at this point, the USCIS offices have now closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and all person-to-person activities have been suspended until the 3^rd of May. At the same time, they have also issued 60-day flexibility so that they may respond to NOID and RFE – including the acceptance of wet signatures that have been scanned.

That being said, not every situation has been addressed – and this includes the situation of people that are there on a visa and are in an inability to go back to their home country. Some of these people might have expiring petitions and visas – which will have to be revised. AILA sent a few letters to USCIS so that they may shed light on the topic – but since no action was taken on USCIS’s side, AILA filed a lawsuit. This article should go over the details of the lawsuit.

What Is the American Immigration Lawyers Association?

Started in 1946, AILA is a nationwide association comprised of immigration lawyers that have the purpose of promoting fairness. They are also advocating for reasonable immigration law for those that are currently residing in the United States on a visa. The law is to be respected and people’s rights have to be respected – and this is what AILA intends to do.

The association itself features more than 15,000 law professors and attorneys that not only teach proper immigration law but also put it into practice. The association comes to the aid of those who are seeking permanent residence in the U.S., regardless of the type of visa that they are currently on.

Why Is the AILA Suing USCIS?

In the event that one doesn’t know, the American Immigration Lawyer Association (AILA) represents all immigration attorneys – and over time, they have been working with several government agencies. This includes USCIS, the DHS, State Department, and so on. In most cases, they work together with these agencies to ensure that all immigrants are entitled to their rights.

That being said, while there has been a history of good collaboration, this doesn’t mean that issues never arise. In a letter sent on March 16, 2020, AILA has requested that USCIS limit person-to-person contact by extending every visa holder, including for non-immigrants present in the United States. This extension would last for 90 more days – at least until the situation clears and people would be able to move at ease.

With that in mind, while USCIS did manage to limit the person-to-person contact by closing off the offices, they did little to nothing in responding to the issue of the extension of deadlines. Once more, AILA sent a letter to USCIS addressing the issue on March 23, clearly mentioning that they will file a lawsuit if the matter is not resolved. Again, USCIS gave no response – and as a result, AILA filed a complaint against USCIS on April 3^rd, 2020.

Main Points of the Suit

The lawsuit has a total of 30 pages, with the context set in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented situation. It follows the current situation and the special circumstances that it should keep in mind – particularly for those that are there on a visa that will be expiring soon.

Inaction Regarding the Suspension of Deadlines

First things first, the lawsuit explains the situation as it is right now, with USCIS failing to suspend or at least pause the current deadlines. A situation like this may not only hurt the medical workers on the frontline, but also the attorneys and other people working in the U.S.

That being said, the suit approaches the legal bases and touches upon the impacts that not extending the deadlines will have. If visa holders do not have any offices were to extend their visa, they will remain unlawfully in the United States – and if the stay goes past 180 days, the visa holder might find themselves facing a 3-year bar from the U.S.

Plus, if a person remains for as little as just one day beyond their authorized stay, the visa will be considered invalid and the lawful resident will become an illegal immigrant – a situation that they would have no way to avoid.

AILA mentioned in their lawsuit how they contacted USCIS, explaining that while some of the issues were respected, others were completely ignored. They talk about how other authorities are dealing with the crisis and how they are trying to come to the aid of the residents through the “shelter in place” order – whereas USCIS is refusing to approach and respect the situation.

Endangerment of Lawyers Representing Immigrants

AILA also mentioned that failure to address the situation might also cause injury to their members, putting them through suffering as they are getting closer to the court for reviews. The problem here is that as USCIS fails to act in this situation, not even their employees will be able to respect their deadlines in the pandemic.

The lawsuit covers a lot of other points, but in retrospect, these are the most important ones.

What the AILA Hopes to Achieve

AILAs purpose here is to get USCIS to respond and come to the aid of the residents of the United States, addressing the problem in light of an extraordinary situation. As a result, AILA is asking the following things of USCIS:

• USCIS is required to suspend or pause every deadline for visa applications, along with REF and responses due by March first. These applications might include anything from initial application to the maintenance of status, extension, change of status, and other similar requests.
• Aside from the extension of the deadline, USCIS also needs to extend the availability of the work authorization. In the event that a lawful applicant has a valid authorization that is close to its expiration date, that availability should be continued in light of the extraordinary situation.
• The current visa status needs to be maintained for everyone, exactly how it is today – and therefore, not penalize any delays that happen starting March 11. This is the date when the president declared National Emergency – a state that will last a total of 90 days.

In the end, what AILA asks is that considering the situation, USCIS “freezes” the current visa situation of people until the National Emergency ends. After all, considering that people are in a physical inability to address their visa status update – or even leave the country – this should be the next logical move.

Will the AILA Win this Suit?

While we cannot say for certain what will happen as the lawsuit is still ongoing, AILA still brought a couple of good arguments. The reality of COVID-19 is rather harsh and understandable – so AILA has pretty much every chance to win this one. Many agencies are looking for solutions to respect the “shelter in place,” whereas USCIS has remained silent throughout the entire process.

The Bottom Line

That being said, we will still have to wait and see. Since USCIS has not provided any response, we cannot say for certain that they do not have any defending points as well. However, what remains true is that more and more people on a visa are currently affected by USCISs failure to react – forcing them into unpleasant situations once the state of emergency ends.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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