On December 21, 2020, Pangea Legal Services and other legal organizations filed this suit against the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of refugees seeking to enter the United States for asylum. The plaintiffs alleged that DHS unlawfully changed the rules around asylum and thus restricted asylum eligibility by making it more difficult to meet the definition of a refugee, qualify for asylum review, and then meet the requirements to be granted asylum. The plaintiffs argued that such changes would frustrate their organizational missions and divert resources toward litigation. Represented by Sidley Austin, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, and the University of California Hastings Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, the plaintiffs sought both attorneys' fees and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief the prevent implementation of the changed rules.

Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that the rules upend precedent on refugee law and were contrary to the Immigration and Nationality Act. The plaintiffs stated that the actions of the administration were in violation of law because the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, was without authority. The plaintiffs further alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, stating that DHS acted in excess of authority because it was counter to the Immigration and Nationality Act as well as the Refugee Act, in an arbitrary and capricious way because it was hastily implemented and is inconsistent with decades of precedent, and without observance of procedure because DHS failed to include stakeholders like the plaintiffs when making changes to the rules. The plaintiffs further asserted a violation of due process rights for asylum seekers. Judge James Donato was assigned to the case.

On December 23, 2020, Judge Susan Illston, presiding over another case between Pangea and DHS, denied a motion to relate that case to both this suit and the case Immigration Equality v. DHS. However, Judge Donato on December 29, 2020, granted a sua sponte motion to relate this suit to that of Immigration Equality.

On January 8, 2021, the court granted a preliminary injunction in the two related cases. Reasoning that the plaintiffs demonstrated a reasonable chance of success at trial and that there was a risk of irreparable harm without an injunction, the court enjoined DHS from enacting the revised rules on a nationwide scale.

On January 28, 2021, the two related cases were stayed so as to allow the incoming administration to review and revise the refugee policy. That status report will be due on April 19, 2021. This case is ongoing

Matthew Feng - 03/12/2021


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