Recently, our firm filed a mandamus lawsuit on behalf of an asylum seeker whose case had been stuck for an extended period. Shortly after filing, we achieved our initial goal—the government scheduled an asylum interview. The Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) assigned to represent the government in the lawsuit pressured us to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that USCIS was now moving forward and the lawsuit was resolved. However, we knew that simply scheduling an interview was not enough.

Instead of backing down, we refused to dismiss the lawsuit until our client not only had their interview but also received a final decision. We forced the AUSA to keep the lawsuit in place, maintaining the pressure on the agency to follow through. The result? A full approval. Without the lawsuit, this client could have remained stuck in an administrative backlog for much longer.