In this video, I would like to provide an update on two major litigations that took
place in the past two weeks. The first one is the litigation that concerns the latest
issuing EADs, work permits. And the second one, the lawsuit to block the two proclamations
that were issued in April, and in June. So, what are you waiting for? I'll see you on
the other side. Hello, everybody. And thank you for joining me on another video update.
This time, we're going to talk about the two major lawsuits. The first one, the lawsuit
involving the major delays in the production of EAD work authorizations, what's the status,
and where are we heading next. And the second one is the lawsuit blocking the two proclamations
issued in April and in June. So, I will cover them. I'm going to tell you what's happening,
and what are the next steps. Lots of people are asking and are concerned about it. So,
in this video, we’ll talk about everything. Before that, make sure, if you’re here for
the first time, to subscribe to our channel. Click that bell to be notified so you don't
miss any of our videos. And also, give us a big like so YouTube will be able to share
and show this video to more people just like you. My name is Jacob Sapochnik. And I'm an
immigration attorney located in San Diego, California. I represent clients in all 50
states. And I'm excited to make this video the latest updates on the currently pending
litigation. So, let's talk about the lawsuit involving the delayed EAD printing. As you
remember… and I've done quite a few videos, and we can link a few of those videos in the
description of this video… we talked about USCIS not issuing actual EAD cards because
they had issues, technical issues at USCIS. And they just essentially refused to issue
those EAD cards. As a result, quite a few people were stuck from applying for jobs,
basically getting benefits and things like that, which essentially resulted in over 75,000
people that were stuck in that situation. And a class action lawsuit was filed. So,
finally, on August 21, 2020, the district court of Ohio issued a final consent order
and a settlement in that lawsuit. And we'll discuss it right now. As I mentioned in the
previous video that I did about that lawsuit, this involved the case of Miss Subramanya,
who was a person waiting for her EAD card to be renewed and she was working for a company.
And she was here on H4 trying to get her EAD renewed. Again, she wasn't able to get it.
She had the approval, but she didn't have the EAD. She was waiting since April and months
and months passed. And then at some point, her employer essentially told her that she's
going to lose her job. And that's kind of where their lawsuit involved. Essentially,
people like her, they were stuck, they were not able to move forward. And that was essentially
the reason why this lawsuit was initiated. And of course, in this case, the plaintiffs
won. There was a consent order. And there was a major settlement. And the settlement
essentially had a few parts. And I want to break down those parts so you will understand
and see if it may impact you as well. The first subclass of plaintiffs involves those
people that have approval of their 765 EAD cards. The production of their cards has been
ordered but not completed yet. That's the first class of applicants. There were about
27,000 people in that group, that class group. And according to the settlement, they should
have received their cards by the end of August. The second subclass of plaintiffs is, again,
those people that have approvals of their 765 EAD cards but the production of their
cards have not been ordered yet. That was another… so, there are people that were
waiting, they had approvals but whenever they were checking online, it didn't say anything
about the production of cards. And that's the second class of plaintiffs. So, in this
second subclass, there are about 70,000 plaintiffs. And again, USCIS said the reason they have
not produced their cards is because they were not able to do their biometrics because there
are facilities that are not operating. And so, under the settlement, these people in
this subclass that had their approvals but the cards have not been ordered, under this
court settlement, they must be receiving their EADs by September 15. A really important date
as well for them. They also said for those people that need biometrics, they should complete
the biometrics by September 22, and then produce those cards within a week after that, for
the remaining class of people that fall within that category. The final outcome of this litigation
is that USCIS promised and essentially did that. They had to post a notice on their website
stating that anybody that has the approval of an EAD from December 2019, all through
August of 2020, is going to be able to use the approval notice, just the approval notice,
as proof of employment on their I-90 forms, which is really important because a lot of
employers actually needed the actual card. But with this notice, that was a direct result
of the litigation, they'll be able to verify their employment all the way through the end
of December 2020. By that date as well, all the EAD cards that were not produced until
now should be also produced under this settlement as well. The second case update we have to
discuss is the Gomez versus Trump case. If you remember, in a previous video, I mentioned
that there was a lawsuit filed by a class action to block the Proclamation. Specifically,
people that are stuck overseas, and the biggest class of people impacted are the DV lottery
winners. Well, we have some good news. This Friday, this week, September 4, Judge Mehta
ordered that the government should not apply the ban to DV lottery winners. The judge specifically
said that the government should not apply the ban to DV lottery winners. And he found
that the government acted illegally in prohibiting them from getting their visas and entering
the United States because they were going to miss their deadline of September 30. This
is huge, huge news that we are able to report right now. In his decision, it was more than
85 pages. The judge specifically stated that the government acted illegally by delaying,
purposely, the ability of DV lottery winners to be able to come to the United States and
claim their green cards, the judge also ordered the government to make good faith efforts
to expedite the process for DV lottery winners to make sure their cases are being processed
fast, and they get their visas before September 30 deadline. Again, this is major news that
just happened on Friday. And so, we'll see what happens. Right now, people who are currently
overseas must email their embassies to let them know that this is what happened. And
they need to be first in line to get their appointments so they can schedule their DV
lottery appointments to be able to come to the United States and get their green cards.
So, once again, huge news. This is the first part of the decision with respect to the DV
lottery class of applicants. There may be other decisions coming out in the next few
weeks with respect to the general proclamation itself. But right now, the judge specifically
ordered this, protecting these class of applicants, the DV lottery winners. So, we just wanted
to include that in this update to make sure that if you are a DV lottery winner, you're
overseas, you need to email the embassy and start the process to get your visas. Of course,
we'll update on the procedures to do that but right now, just wanted to update you on
that big win. We hope that this sends a message to the government that they cannot be acting
illegally that way and basically discriminating against a certain class of applicants that
deserve to get their green cards and be able to come to the United States because they
won the lottery, this is their right to be able to claim their green cards. And again,
remember, the biggest thing was the deadline. We are now September 4. It's going to be a
very, very big race for these people to be able to get their green cards and we hope
that it's going to happen. So once again, we'll update you. If you have any questions,
make sure you post them in the comments below. If you’re here for the first time, give
us a big like and also subscribe to our channel and click the bell to be notified. Once again,
thanks for watching, and I'll see you in our next video.