Filed: Dec. 04, 2018
Latest Update: Dec. 04, 2018
Summary: MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER PAUL L. FRIEDMAN , District Judge . Plaintiff Egla Arely Velasquez Molina and her ten-year-old niece, E.C., were forcibly separated by border officials shortly after the two of them crossed the United States border with Mexico to pursue asylum. Plaintiff's application for asylum was subsequently denied and she is expected to be removed from the United States in the near future. On October 17, 2018, plaintiff brought suit against defendants — various federal agen
Summary: MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER PAUL L. FRIEDMAN , District Judge . Plaintiff Egla Arely Velasquez Molina and her ten-year-old niece, E.C., were forcibly separated by border officials shortly after the two of them crossed the United States border with Mexico to pursue asylum. Plaintiff's application for asylum was subsequently denied and she is expected to be removed from the United States in the near future. On October 17, 2018, plaintiff brought suit against defendants — various federal agenc..
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MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
PAUL L. FRIEDMAN, District Judge.
Plaintiff Egla Arely Velasquez Molina and her ten-year-old niece, E.C., were forcibly separated by border officials shortly after the two of them crossed the United States border with Mexico to pursue asylum. Plaintiff's application for asylum was subsequently denied and she is expected to be removed from the United States in the near future. On October 17, 2018, plaintiff brought suit against defendants — various federal agencies and officials responsible for enforcing immigration laws — and moved for a temporary restraining order requiring defendants to stay her removal and to provide certain immigration relief. Defendants voluntarily agreed to stay plaintiff's removal from the country until today, December 4, 2018. The parties have advised the Court in separate status reports filed today that defendants are unwilling to voluntarily extend the stay of removal.
The matter is before the Court on plaintiff's emergency motion [Dkt. No. 12] to extend the stay of removal and to stay this action. The Court held a hearing on the emergency motion on November 30, 2018. Upon careful consideration of the parties' submissions and the arguments of counsel at the hearing on November 30, 2018, the Court finds it appropriate at this stage to grant the requested stay of removal in view of the imminent harm likely to befall plaintiff if she is removed from the country before the Court has an opportunity to rule on her motion for a temporary restraining order. See Mem. Op. & Order, M.G.U. v. Nielsen, No. 18-1458 (D.D.C. July 16, 2018); Mem. Op. & Order, Montufar-Mejia v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enf't, No. 18-2131 (D.D.C. Sept. 13, 2018). Furthermore, given that plaintiff has chosen to pursue her claims in this Court rather than before Judge Dana M. Sabraw in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, her request to stay this action in its entirety is denied as moot.1 Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED that plaintiff's emergency motion [Dkt. No. 12] to extend the stay of removal and to stay this action is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART; it is
FURTHER ORDERED that defendants and their officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and all those who are in active concert or participation with them are prohibited from removing plaintiff Egla Arely Velasquez Molina from the United States pending a ruling by this Court on her motion [Dkt. No. 2] for a temporary restraining order; it is
FURTHER ORDERED that defendants shall appear for a hearing on plaintiff's motion [Dkt. No. 2] for a temporary restraining order — which the Court will now treat as a motion for a preliminary injunction — on December 14, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Supplemental briefing shall conclude on or before December 12, 2018. The parties are directed to meet and confer and propose a revised briefing schedule; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiff's request to stay this action is DENIED AS MOOT.
SO ORDERED.
