In March 2017, CAIR-Columbus filed a mandamus lawsuit in federal court in Columbus on behalf of 10 Somali refugees whose green card applications had been pending for almost 3 years without adjudication.
See: CAIR-Columbus Files Immigration Delay Lawsuits
“We are happy to announce that since the filing in March, we were able to obtain green cards for 6 of the ten plaintiffs in the case, and expect the other four plaintiffs will be receiving their green cards soon as well,” said Executive Director Jennifer Nimer.
Since President Trump took office, CAIR-Columbus attorneys noted they have seen an increase in delays of all types of immigration applications. Last week CAIR-Columbus announced the filing of a citizenship delay lawsuit for the thirteenth plaintiff just this year alone.
“USCIS has been instructed by the Attorney General and the President to ‘rigorously enforce all grounds of inadmissibility and/or denial of immigration benefits’ and we believe this is contributing to USCIS delaying applications in order to look for any reason to deny them, even for minor issues that typically would not result in a denial,” added Nimer. “However what we are seeing with many Muslim applicants is that their cases are just delayed indefinitely with no explanation. We have no choice but to continue filing one lawsuit after another until USCIS stops this practice of unreasonable delays.”
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. There are three CAIR chapters in Ohio- Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.