Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

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CECILLIA D. WANG (CSB #187782) LUCAS GUTTENTAG (CSB #90208) AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS PROJECT 39 Drumm Street San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: (415) 343-0775 Facsimile: (415) 395-0950 Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs-Petitioners *Additional counsel listed on following page

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION ALIA AHMADI, VLADIMIR MIKULICIC, IGOR OVCHINNIKOV, BILJANA PETROVIC, SERGEI SAPOZHNIKOV, EIMAN TAKY and YAN WANG, Case No. 07-CV-3455-WHA Plaintiffs-Petitioners, v. MICHAEL CHERTOFF, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; ROBERT S. MUELLER III, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; ALBERTO GONZALES, Attorney General of the United States; EMILIO T. GONZALEZ, Director, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services; DAVID STILL, District Director, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, San Francisco District, Defendants-Respondents. DECLARATION OF YUMNA DAIMEE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION Judge: Hon. William A. Alsup Date: October 11, 2007 Time: 8:00 a.m.

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DECLARATION OF YUMNA DAIMEE 07-CV-3455-WHA

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Additional counsel: JULIA HARUMI MASS (CSB #189649) ALAN L. SCHLOSSER (CSB #49957) AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 39 Drumm Street San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: (415) 621-2493 Facsimile: (415) 255-8437 SIN YEN LING* JOREN LYONS (CSB #203403) ASIAN LAW CAUCUS 939 Market Street, Suite 201 San Francisco, CA 94103 Telephone: (415) 896-1701 Facsimile: (415) 896-1702 *Application for admission pro hac vice forthcoming

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DECLARATION OF YUMNA DAIMEE 07-CV-3455-WHA

TODD GALLINGER (CSB #238666) Of Counsel COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS (CAIR) ­ SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA 3000 Scott Boulevard, Suite 212 Santa Clara, CA 95054 Telephone: (408) 986-9874 Facsimile: (408) 986-9875

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I, Yumna Daimee, hereby declare under penalty of perjury as follows: 1. I am the Civil Rights Manager at the Council on American Islamic

Relations ­ Northern California Chapter ("CAIR"). CAIR is a non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, but particularly those who identify as Muslim. A large number of the people we assist are immigrants, and we encourage all who seek our services to apply for citizenship when they are able so that they can more fully participate in American civil society. 2. Since the government's implementation of FBI name checks as a

requirement for naturalization, CAIR has received inquiries from at least 71 individuals in the Northern District of California who have suffered prolonged delays in becoming citizens. All of these long-time lawful permanent residents have successfully passed their naturalization examinations and appear to meet all statutory requirements for naturalization, but have waited more than 120 days from the time of their naturalization examinations without receiving a decision from Citizenship and Immigration Services ("CIS"). 3. While waiting for CIS to mail them an oath ceremony date, our clients

have sought in many ways to contact both CIS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to inquire into the name check delay. Clients have made numerous appointments with CIS through CIS's online "Infopass" system, only to be told to wait for a response from their local immigration offices. Others have written to CIS or called CIS but were again told to wait for a background check clearance. In desperation, some of our clients have written to the FBI directly or have attempted to file an inquiry under the Freedom of Information Act. Many of these inquires have led to repetitive, uninformative responses from FBI stating that a background check is pending, and that the applicant should simply wait. Frustrated by these responses, our clients have reached out to local members of Congress for assistance in their naturalization applications. Again, these individuals have been given the same repetitive and uninformative responses from congressional staff members. 3
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4.

The vast majority of individuals who have contacted CAIR about

prolonged naturalization delays do not have an effective individual remedy. Our lowincome clients do not have the financial resources to retain private counsel to file individual actions for district court naturalization under 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b). As a nonprofit organization with limited resources, CAIR is not in a position to file hundreds of individual district court actions. Although most individuals who have contacted CAIR have done everything in their power to expedite their applications, through telephone calls, letters, in-person visits to CIS offices, and congressional inquiries, those efforts have been unavailing. Thus, dozens of individuals who have contacted CAIR find their applications in an indefinite limbo. 5. Many naturalization applicants suffering from prolonged delays are also

suffering the harm of prolonged separation from family members living abroad. Lawful permanent residents are far more limited than U.S. citizens in their ability to petition for the immigration of immediate relatives. Many such lawful permanent residents who have contacted CAIR work in low-income jobs and are often unable to travel to see their family members because of the financial burden of traveling. 6. I hereby declare that the foregoing is true and accurate under penalty of

perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746. Dated: September 5, 2007 Santa Clara, California

_________/s/______________ YUMNA DAIMEE

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Cecillia D. Wang, declare as follows: I hereby certify that today I electronically filed the foregoing DECLARATION OF YUMNA DAIMEE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION with the Clerk of the Court using the ECF system, which will send notification of such filing to the following email addresses: Alan Lawrence Schlosser American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California Via ECF at [email protected] Via ECF at [email protected] Via ECF at [email protected] Via ECF at [email protected] Via ECF at [email protected] Via ECF at [email protected] Via ECF at [email protected]

Lucas Guttentag American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project Julia Harumi Mass American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California Edward A. Olsen United States Attorney's Office Elizabeth J. Stevens United States Department of Justice Jeffrey S. Robins United States Department of Justice

In addition, I hereby certify that on this 5th day of September 2007, true and correct copies of the DECLARATION OF YUMNA DAIMEE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION were served by U.S. Mail on the following counsel not registered for ECF: Sin Yen Ling Asian Law Caucus 939 Market Street, Suite 201 San Francisco, CA 94103 Todd Gallinger Council on American-Islamic Relations 3000 Scott Boulevard, Suite 212 Santa Clara, CA 95054

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the above

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is true and correct. Dated: September 5, 2007 San Francisco, California _________/s/______________ CECILLIA D. WANG