Notice of proposed settlement in Calderon Jimenez v. Mayorkas impacting New England area noncitizens who have final orders of removal and are married to U.S. citizens

Summary by class counsel at ACLU of Massachusetts

On October 25, 2024, a federal district court preliminarily approved a proposed settlement in Calderon Jimenez v. Mayorkas. The case was filed in 2018 on behalf of a class of certain U.S. citizens and their noncitizen spouses who have final orders of removal and live in New England. The two-year settlement agreement has two key terms: first, it provides a process by which most noncitizen class members should be able to reopen their removal proceedings. Second, during the two-year period of the settlement, ICE may not take enforcement actions against class members unless ICE determines that the individual poses a threat to public safety. The settlement will go into effect if it is approved by the federal district court after a public hearing on January 16, 2025. The deadline for class members to object to the settlement is January 3, 2025. Please see below for the full proposed settlement and the class notice, which includes a summary of the proposed settlement and information about the objection procedure.

You and your spouse are class members if:

A.You and your spouse are class members if:

A.
  1. One spouse is a U.S. citizen.
  2. One spouse is a noncitizen with a final order of removal, and has not departed the United States under that order.
  3. The U.S. citizen spouse has filed an I-130 “Petition for Alien Relative” for the noncitizen spouse, and that petition is pending or has been approved.
  4. You live in New England (comprising Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine), or the noncitizen spouse is detained in New England.
  5. The noncitizen spouse:
  • is 17 years old or older, and
  • does not have a pending application with USCIS for lawful permanent resident status. (Note, this limitation generally refers to one immigration form, the I-485. An I-130 petition does not disqualify a noncitizen from the class.)