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CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW Peter A. Schey (Cal. Bar No. 58232) Carlos R. Holgun (Cal. Bar No. 90754) 256 S. Occidental Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90057 Telephone: (213) 388-8693 (Schey Ext. 304, Holgun ext. 309) Facsimile: (213) 386-9484 pschey@centerforhumanrights.org crholguin@centerforhumanrights.org Additional counsel listed next page Attorneys for plaintiffs

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, SOUTHERN DIVISION SACV12-01137 CBM (AJWx) PLAINTIFFS STATUS REPORT.

) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J ANET N APOLITANO , Secretary of the 19 Department of Homeland Security; et al., ) ) 20 ) ) Defendants. 21 __________________________________ ) ) 22 15 MARTIN R. ARANAS, et al., 16 Plaintiffs, 17 -vs18 23 24 25 26 27 28 ///

Hearing: September 10, 2013 Time: 10:00 a.m. Hon. Consuelo B. Marshall Spring St., Courtroom No. 2

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Additional counsel for plaintiff Aranas: PUBLIC LAW CENTER A. Christian Abasto (Cal. Bar No. 190603) 601 Civic Center Drive West Santa Ana, CA 92701 Telephone: (714) 541-1010, Ext. 277 Facsimile: (714) 541-5157 cabasto@publiclawcenter.org ASIAN LAW ALLIANCE Beatrice Ann M. Pangilinan (Cal. Bar No. 271064) 184 Jackson Street, San Jose, CA 95112 Telephone: (408) 287-9710 Facsimile: (408) 287-0864 Email: bpangilinan@asianlawalliance.org Additional counsel for plaintiffs Rodriguez and DeLeon: LAW OFFICES OF MANULKIN & BENNETT Gary H. Manulkin (Cal. Bar No. 41469) Reyna M. Tanner (Cal. Bar No. 197931) 10175 Slater Avenue, Suite 111 Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Telephone: 714-963-8951 Facsimile: 714-968-4948 gmanulkin@mgblaw.com reynatanner@yahoo.com ///

Plaintiffs Status Report

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Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law 256 S. Occidental Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90057 213/388-8693

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Plaintiffs respectfully advise the Court of the status of plaintiff class members as follows: 1) Defendant U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) has issued

work authorization to extremely few class members. The agency has still not issued employment authorization to class representative Jane DeLeon. Dec. of Reyna Tanner, Plaintiffs Exhibit 62 at 7. Nor has it provide employment authorization to proposed intervenors Alexander Bustos Garcia or Holga Martinez. Dec. of Alexander Bustos-Garcia, Plaintiffs Exhibit 64 at 9; Dec. of Holga Martinez, Plaintiffs Exhibit 63 at 8. Even taking defendants supplemental status report of August 19, 2013 (Dkt. 160) at face value, CIS has issued employment authorization to only about 30 class members. Id. at 3. Considered in light of plaintiffs evidence of the size of the plaintiff class,1 defendants have authorized fewer than 0.8 percent of class members to work. 2) Defendants have notified only a small part of the certified class that they

have any remedy for CISs having unconstitutionally denied them immigration benefits. Defendants supplemental status report of August 19, 2013 (Dkt. 160), represents that CIS has identified only 148 matters involving denials of petitions and application for immigration benefits pursuant to DOMA 3. Id. at 2. CIS however cautions that a single class member could account for up to four of these

See Reply to Opposition to Motion for Class Certification (Dkt. 87) at 9 n.8 (collecting citations to evidence).
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148 matters, and provides no information on how many actual class members it has identified. Id. at n. 1. Even were each of 148 matters to correspond to a different class member, defendants number would grossly undercount the actual number of class members entitled to meaningful notice that they have a remedy for CISs having unlawfully denied them immigration benefits including immediate employment authorization. 3) Statistical evidence strongly indicates that more than 500 same-sex

couples apply for immigration benefits annually. See Reply to Opposition to Motion for Class Certification (Dkt. 87) at 9 n.8 (collecting citations to evidence). However, CIS has said it will identify only class members denied immigration benefits after February 23, 2011, Dkt. 146-1. It should have identified up to 1,500 class members, about 10 times the total number of matters the agency identified. 4) CIS admits that class members have affirmatively advised it of 60

matters, more than a third of which the agency had failed to identify through its plan to re-consider post-February 23, 2011, DOMA-based denials. Dkt. 160 at 3. Thus even using the small number of matters the CIS has identified, the agency failed to identify at least one third of the class members who received denials after February 23, 2011. As explained above, plaintiffs evidence indicates that CIS is in fact failing to identify well over 90 percent of class members.

Plaintiffs Status Report

-2Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law

Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law 256 S. Occidental Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90057 213/388-8693

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5)

Defendants have refused to disclose what CIS has actually done to

identify class members. See Declaration of Peter A. Schey, Plaintiffs Exhibit 66 (Dkt. ) at 8. Neither the Court nor counsel for the certified plaintiff class accordingly has any way of knowing whether CIS personnel has spent days, hours, or mere minutes working to identify class members with post-February 23, 2011, DOMA-based denials. They admit to making no effort to identify the majority of class members who were denied benefits under DOMA before February 23, 2011. 6) Very few class members likely are or will become independently aware

that they are entitled to any remedy for the unconstitutional denial of their applications under DOMA 3. Id. at 9; see also Declaration of Reyna Tanner, Plaintiffs Exhibit 62, at 3. Lawyers for class members report never being consulted by any class member who has become aware of CISs FAQ independently of consultation with qualified immigration counsel. Id. 7) The record is replete with evidence and declarations clearly showing

that without interim relief in the nature of court-ordered employment authorization, hundreds or thousands of class members will go for many months or some for years without the ability to work legally. Who suffers irreparable harm? Low-income US workers (unfairly passed over for jobs by employers preferring to exploit undocumented workers), bi-national families with class members, and the immigrant class members in this case will all share in the well-known harmful and irreparable consequences of forcing people not to work or to work illegally.

Plaintiffs Status Report

-3Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law

Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law 256 S. Occidental Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90057 213/388-8693

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Dated: September 9, 2013.

CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW Peter A. Schey Carlos R. Holgun PUBLIC LAW CENTER A. Christian Abasto ASIAN LAW ALLIANCE Beatrice Ann M. Pangilinan LAW OFFICES OF MANULKIN & BENNETT Gary H. Manulkin Reyna M. Tanner

/s/ Carlos R. Holgun _____________ /s/ Peter A. Schey ________________ Attorneys for plaintiffs ///

Plaintiffs Status Report

-4Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law

Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law 256 S. Occidental Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90057 213/388-8693

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE SACV12-01137 CBM (AJWx) I hereby certify that on this day I electronically filed the foregoing PLAINTIFFS STATUS REPORT with the Clerk of Court by using the CM/ECF system, which provided an electronic notice and electronic link of the same to all attorneys of record through the Courts CM/ECF system. Dated: September 9, 2013 /// /s/ ___Carlos Holgun________