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 HELEN STERLING 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 HELEN STERLING 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 HELEN STERLING 07-CV-3455-WHA

Of counsel: TODD GALLINGER (CSB #238666) 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, Helen Sterling, hereby declare under penalty of perjury as follows: 1. I have been a volunteer case assistant on a part-time basis at the ACLU

Immigrants' Rights Project since August 2007. In that capacity, I am responsible for responding to requests for assistance and intake calls regarding delays in naturalization. 2. Since I began my volunteer service with the ACLU in August 2007, I have

been in contact with five individuals in the Northern District of California who have suffered prolonged delays in becoming citizens. Based upon information submitted by these individuals, it appears that they are all qualifying lawful permanent residents who 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"). The five individuals with whom I have spoken have waited two to three years for an FBI name check clearance. 3. The individuals whom I have interviewed have attempted in vain to

expedite their naturalization process by inquiring with CIS. CIS has informed each of the individuals that their cases are pending due to an FBI name check, and have provided no other information. Some of the individuals have contacted the FBI to inquire, and have either received no response at all, or have been told only that the name check is pending. Frustrated by these responses, some individuals have reached out to local members of Congress for assistance in their naturalization applications. Congressional staff members have reported that CIS provided uninformative responses indicating merely that the FBI name check was pending. 4. Some of the applicants I interviewed are suffering prolonged separation

from family members living abroad. These individuals report that as lawful permanent residents, they have been unable to petition for the immigration of their relatives living outside the United States. In one case, the applicant has been unable to petition for his wife to join him, and as a result of his frequent trips to visit her, lost his job. I hereby declare that the foregoing is true and accurate under penalty of perjury 3
DECLARATION OF HELEN STERLING 07-CV-3455-WHA

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pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746. Dated: September 5, 2007 San Francisco, California

_________/s/______________ HELEN STERLING

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DECLARATION OF HELEN STERLING 07-CV-3455-WHA

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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 HELEN STERLING 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 31st day of August 2007, true and correct copies of the DECLARATION OF HELEN STERLING 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