What a Writ of Mandamus Is, and What It Cannot Do
Mandamus is a court order directing a federal officer to perform a duty the law requires. How it works under 28 U.S.C. § 1361 and the APA, its three requirements, and its limits.
Guides to how immigration decisions are made, delayed, challenged and enforced. Each one cites its sources and shows when it was last reviewed.
22 articlesWhen an agency will not decide an application, a federal court can order it to. How that works, when a delay qualifies, what it costs, and the special rules for green cards and naturalization.
Mandamus is a court order directing a federal officer to perform a duty the law requires. How it works under 28 U.S.C. § 1361 and the APA, its three requirements, and its limits.
No statute sets a single deadline for USCIS. How courts decide when a delay becomes unreasonable: the 180-day sense of Congress, published processing times, statutory clocks and the TRAC factors.
The fixed clocks of a federal mandamus case (90 days to serve, 60 days for the government to respond, 60 days to appeal) and why most cases end sooner or later than those clocks suggest.
How a federal mandamus case is filed: the record of the delay, venue, defendants, the complaint, the $405 filing fee or a fee waiver, summonses and service on the United States.
The court costs of a federal mandamus case, fee waivers, and when the Equal Access to Justice Act makes the government pay attorney's fees: prevailing party, net-worth limits and the 30-day deadline.
The main reasons federal courts dismiss or deny immigration mandamus and delay cases: a reasonable delay, no clear duty, jurisdiction-stripping statutes, an adequate alternative remedy, mootness and self-inflicted delay.
How mandamus compares with an APA claim, an administrative appeal, habeas corpus, a petition for review and the naturalization statutes, and which remedy fits delay, denial, detention or a removal order.
Why Form I-485 adjustment applications stall, what the law says about visa availability, and the circuit split over whether courts can hear I-485 delay suits under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii).
When USCIS does not decide an N-400 within 120 days of the interview, 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b) lets the applicant ask a federal court to decide it or send it back. How the rule works, delays before the interview, and review after a denial.
Injunctions, restraining orders and vacatur: the orders courts use to stop or undo government action, and how they changed after Trump v. CASA.
The three kinds of injunction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65: how long each lasts, the standards (Winter, eBay), security, appeals, and the limits on classwide injunctions in immigration cases.
In Trump v. CASA (2025) the Supreme Court ended universal injunctions. How class actions, APA vacatur and party-specific relief now carry challenges to immigration policies, with 2026 examples.
Under 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) a court can hold unlawful and set aside agency action. What vacatur is, the grounds, remand without vacatur, § 705 stays, and how 2026 courts used it against immigration policies.
Presidential executive orders and proclamations on immigration since January 2025, the travel bans, and the birthright citizenship litigation.
An index of the principal immigration executive orders and presidential proclamations issued since January 20, 2025, with Federal Register citations, what each orders, and where the courts have ruled.
How presidential proclamations under INA § 212(f) bar entry: the 2025 travel bans (Proclamations 10949 and 10998), who is covered, the exceptions, § 212(f) visa refusals, and what happens to pending visa cases and delay suits.
Executive Order 14160, the injunctions, Trump v. CASA, and the Supreme Court's June 30, 2026 decision in Trump v. Barbara holding the order unconstitutional; plus Executive Order 14418 of August 2026.
Removal orders, the filings that stop them, and habeas corpus for people in immigration detention.
The kinds of removal orders in U.S. immigration law (immigration judge orders, in absentia, stipulated, expedited, reinstated and administrative), when an order becomes final, the bars on return, and what follows.
How a removal is stopped: automatic stays, ICE administrative stays on Form I-246, stays from the immigration court, the Board or a court of appeals (Nken v. Holder), and motions to reopen or reconsider with their deadlines.
How habeas corpus works in immigration detention: 28 U.S.C. § 2241, where to file, the detention statutes (§§ 1225, 1226, 1231), the 2025–26 split over bond hearings, and what habeas cannot do.
How agencies make rules and decisions, how to get your immigration file, and what agency guidance can and cannot do.
The Administrative Procedure Act explained: rules versus orders, notice-and-comment rulemaking, adjudication, final agency action, the standards of review in 5 U.S.C. § 706, and how it applies to immigration agencies.
How to request immigration records under the Freedom of Information Act: which agency holds what (USCIS, ICE, CBP, EOIR, State), USCIS's online-only intake since January 22, 2026, deadlines, exemptions, appeals and lawsuits.
What USCIS policy memoranda, policy alerts and the Policy Manual are, why they bind officers but not courts, when they needed notice and comment, and how they are challenged under the APA.
Where the Department of Labor, USCIS and ICE meet: certifying the job, verifying the worker and protecting workers’ rights.
Where labor law meets immigration law: PERM labor certification, the H-1B Labor Condition Application, H-2A and H-2B, Form I-9 and inspections, and the rights that apply regardless of status.