Mandamus decisions / Eastern District of Wisconsin

Patel v. Noem

Eastern District of WisconsinPamela PepperDecided March 31, 2026No. 2:25-cv-00709

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2,914 written decisions from 2,661 cases in the whole mandamus and agency-delay group, the group's newest decided October 30, 2026. Updated November 3, 2026 at 1:24 a.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 1,606 public decisions since January 1, 2025 that a CourtListener and GovInfo search for mandamus and agency delay finds, Passim holds 1,371 (85%), measured November 3, 2026. Some of what that search finds are not mandamus decisions. Tell us about a decision we're missing.

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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	USCIS Read by a model “[b]y delaying adjudication of his petition for U nonimmigrant status, USCIS has deprived Plaintiff of the opportunity of work authorization.”
Form or filing	I-765 (EAD); I-918 (U visa) Read by a model He alleges that eight months later, in November of 2024, he filed a Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status (“U visa”)—a type of visa available to victims of certain crimes who assist law enforcement.
What the suit asked for	Decide the application Read by a model “to compel the Defendants to act on the petition for U nonimmigrant status filed by Plaintiff with USCIS on or about November 2024.”
Kind of order	A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model The court ORDERS that the petition is DISMISSED without prejudice and without leave to amend.
Motion decided	Motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction Read by a model The respondents cite Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), which allows a party to assert by motion the defense of lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
Whose motion	The government's motion Read by a model The court GRANTS the respondents’ motion to dismiss.
Disposition	Dismissed The case or every delay claim was dismissed for a reason other than mootness. Read by a model The court ORDERS that the petition is DISMISSED without prejudice and without leave to amend.
Prevailing party	Government Read by a model Because the court has determined that the petitioner lacks standing, it will grant the respondents’ motion to dismiss.
The delay claim	Dismissed Read by a model Because the court has determined that the petitioner lacks standing, it will grant the respondents’ motion to dismiss. The court will dismiss the case without prejudice, but without leave to amend.
Months pending	5.9 months from the application to the suit; 16.5 months from the application to the court's decision Read by a model in November of 2024, he filed a Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status (“U visa”)
TRAC factors	The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings	None Read by a model
U visa claims	Bona fide determination: dismissed; Work permit: dismissed; Waiting list: dismissed Read by a model Because the court has determined that the petitioner lacks standing, it will grant the respondents’ motion to dismiss. The court will dismiss the case without prejudice, but without leave to amend.
Nationality	India Read by a model The petitioner, Harsh Patel, is a citizen of India

How the case ended

Docket: No. 2:25-cv-00709
Filed: May 14, 2025
Ended: March 31, 2026
Suit's filing to its end: 321 days
How it ended: Dismissed on jurisdiction or the merits
From the record: idb disp 6 (judgment: motion before trial), judgment for defendant

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 Seventh 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 3, 2026. Check the current status before relying on one.

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
Iddir v. INS, 301 F.3d 492

Seventh Circuit, August 6, 2002. INS had a nondiscretionary duty to adjudicate diversity-visa applications and § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) does not bar review of a failure to act, but no relief is available once the fiscal year ends.

ImmCite: caution, adverse or limiting treatment found. Questioned by Akash Shahi v. United States Department of S, 33 F.4th 927 (2022).
Calderon-Ramirez v. McCament, 877 F.3d 272

Seventh Circuit, December 5, 2017. USCIS must process U-visa petitions within a reasonable time, but neither mandamus nor the APA offers relief to an applicant who shows nothing setting him apart from those ahead of him in the oldest-first queue.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Pak v. Biden, 91 F.4th 896

Seventh Circuit, January 31, 2024. Consular nonreviewability bars a systemic challenge to how terrorism-related inadmissibility exemptions are considered, a matter the statute commits to the Secretaries' sole unreviewable discretion, and a statutory citation with a facial link to the record satisfies Mandel.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance. ImmCite has read all 2 published decisions citing this case, as of 2026-10-30; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.
Shahi v. United States Department of State, 33 F.4th 927

Seventh Circuit, May 6, 2022. Courts cannot order a diversity visa issued after the fiscal year ends whatever relief is requested, because the statute ends eligibility, and the Mandamus Act supplies a remedy rather than jurisdiction.

ImmCite: unchecked, treatment not confirmed yet, not evidence either way. ImmCite has found no published decision citing this case as of 2026-10-29; it checks for new citing decisions daily. That is not a determination that the case is good law. The citation index lists 10 other decisions citing it, none a Supreme Court, BIA or Attorney General precedent or a published circuit opinion; ImmCite's status does not review them.