Mandamus decisions / Eastern District of Michigan
Alghooneh v. US Department of State
Read the decisionOriginal on CourtListener
2,948 written decisions from 2,691 cases in the whole mandamus and agency-delay group, the group's newest decided November 10, 2026. Updated November 11, 2026 at 1:21 p.m. CT; the Passim connector counts the live collection, which can differ by the day's additions and retirements (which total to quote). Coverage: of the 1,632 public decisions since January 1, 2025 that a CourtListener and GovInfo search for mandamus and agency delay finds, Passim holds 1,398 (86%), measured November 11, 2026. Some of what that search finds are not mandamus decisions. Tell us about a decision we're missing.
These are counts of past written decisions and dockets, not predictions of how any case will be decided. A distribution appears only when at least 5 decisions (or 5 dockets) are behind it; smaller groups are listed, not summarized. How it's counted.
What the decision decided
Each value cites the passage it was read from. Values read by a model were checked against that passage; values read by rule come from fixed text patterns. Read the decision before relying on either.
| Agency |
Department of State
Read by a model
The approved application was processed by the State Department, and on March 19, 2024, Plaintiffs completed their visa interviews at the U.S. Consulate in Montreal. |
|---|---|
| Form or filing |
221(g) (consular refusal); DS-260 (immigrant visa)
Read by a model
So in 2020, Alghooneh applied for an employment-based immigrant visa, with his wife and their minor son as derivative beneficiaries. |
| What the suit asked for |
Decide the application
Read by a model
Put another way, the basis for this suit is the adjudication of Plaintiffs’ visa petitions (and Defendants’ allegedly unreasonable delays therein). |
| Kind of order |
A transfer order
Read by a model
The Court will exercise its discretion to transfer the case rather than dismiss it. |
| Motion decided |
Other motion to dismiss; Transfer
Read by a model
the Court GRANTS IN PART Defendants’ Rule 12(b)(3) motion to dismiss (ECF No. 5) and TRANSFERS this case to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). |
| Whose motion |
The government's motion
Read by a model
Defendants move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3) and 12(b)(6). |
| Disposition |
Transferred to another court
An order moving the case to another court. It decides where the suit is heard, not who wins, so it is not counted as either side's win.
Read by a model
The Court will exercise its discretion to transfer the case rather than dismiss it. |
| Prevailing party |
Neither side
Read by a model
The Court will exercise its discretion to transfer the case rather than dismiss it. |
| The delay claim |
Not decided here
Read by a model
For the reasons below, and without expressing any view on the merits of Plaintiffs’ complaint or Defendants’ arguments under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court will grant Defendants’ motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(3). |
| The other claims |
Not decided here
Read by a model
For the reasons below, and without expressing any view on the merits of Plaintiffs’ complaint or Defendants’ arguments under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court will grant Defendants’ motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(3). |
| Months pending |
56.9 months from the application to the suit; 64.1 months from the application to the court's decision
Read by a model
So in 2020, Alghooneh applied for an employment-based immigrant visa, with his wife and their minor son as derivative beneficiaries. |
| TRAC factors | The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model |
| Threshold rulings | None Read by a model |
| Nationality |
Canada
Read by a model
Mansoor Alghooneh, Masoumeh Esfandiari, and their minor son L.A.E.A. are citizens and residents of Canada. |
How the case ended
- Docket
- No. 2:25-cv-10878
- Filed
- March 28, 2025
- Ended
- November 4, 2025
- Suit's filing to its end
- 221 days
- How it ended
- Transferred
- From the record
- idb disp 0 (transferred to another district)
A voluntary or stipulated dismissal is how most suits end once the agency acts; the docket rarely says why. Other suits in this court.
Supreme Court and Sixth Circuit authority
District decisions bind no one. On the questions this decision raises, the Supreme Court decisions and the circuit's published decisions listed here bind this court; a circuit disposition marked nonprecedential was not published as precedent and is persuasive only. ImmCite status as read November 11, 2026. Check the current status before relying on one.
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Department of State v. Muñoz, 602 U.S. 899
Supreme Court, June 21, 2024. A U.S. citizen has no fundamental liberty interest in a noncitizen spouse's admission, so marriage alone entitles the citizen neither to Mandel review of the consular refusal nor to an explanation beyond the statutory citation.
ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
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Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. 667
Supreme Court, June 26, 2018. Mandel's facially-legitimate-and-bona-fide standard governs constitutional challenges to entry restrictions, and a citation to a valid statutory ground ordinarily satisfies it.
ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
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Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753
Supreme Court, June 29, 1972. When a visa refusal burdens a U.S. citizen's own constitutional rights, courts ask only whether the Executive gave a facially legitimate and bona fide reason and do not look behind it.
ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
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Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 542 U.S. 55
Supreme Court, June 14, 2004. Section 706(1) and mandamus reach only a discrete agency action that the agency is legally required to take, so a court cannot compel programmatic improvements or action the law leaves to agency discretion.
ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
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Baaghil v. Miller, 1 F.4th 427
Sixth Circuit, June 14, 2021. Visa denials stood where the consulate gave a facially legitimate and bona fide reason, and a citizen's asserted liberty interest in a relative's admission adds no further process.
ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance. ImmCite has read all 3 published decisions citing this case, as of 2026-11-10; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.
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Barrios Garcia v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 25 F.4th 430
Sixth Circuit, February 10, 2022. Courts may review and compel unreasonably delayed U-visa waitlist placement and bona fide determinations under TRAC, though not discretionary pre-waitlist work authorization, disagreeing in part with the Fourth Circuit's Gonzalez.
ImmCite: unchecked, treatment not confirmed yet, not evidence either way. No verified adverse treatment has been found so far. All 2 precedential decisions citing this case have been reviewed as of 2026-11-08.