ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis resident is suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Secretary of DHS John F. Kelley for an alleged unlawful delay in an application for permanent residency.
Semsudin Kudic filed a complaint on July 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, alleging that the defendants violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that he filed an application to adjust his status to lawful permanent resident on June 2, 2006 after spending more than one year in the U.S. as a refugee. The plaintiff claims that despite all of his efforts, his application was delayed due to a secretive policy that has blacklisted him because of an alleged national security concern. The plaintiff alleges that he has a been a law-abiding resident of the U.S. who meets the statutory criteria to be a naturalized American citizen. But the defendants allegedly refused to adjudicate his application because of FBI background checks.
The plaintiff holds the defendants responsible for allegedly prohibiting him from upgrading his immigration status despite allegedly being eligible to do so, taking no action on the his pending applications and refusing to complete his applications in accordance with applicable legal criteria.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks process and adjudication of his immigration benefit applications, award of attorneys' fees, costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act and any further relief that the court may deem fit and proper. He is represented by James O. Hackling III of Hackling Law Practice LLC in St. Louis.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri case number 4:17-cv-02128-JAR