Hussein v. Jaddou: Challenging the delays in adjudicating I-730/Follow-To-Join Petition of Somali Family

On March 16, 2022, IRAP filed a lawsuit in partnership with a Somali family whose reunification was first prevented by the Muslim ban and who remained indefinitely separated despite a change in administration and a successful previous lawsuit, JFS v. Trump. Plaintiff Afkab Mohamed Hussein previously partnered with IRAP to challenge former President Trump’s Muslim refugee ban, which suspended family reunification under the follow-to-join program. After successfully obtaining a preliminary injunction against the ban and negotiating a settlement agreement in February 2020, which required the government to prioritize processing of Afkab’s family’s case, the family remained separated several years later. This latest lawsuit challenged the government’s unreasonable delays (more than six years) in processing the family’s follow-to-join petition. In early July 2022, the family was finally reunited.