DES MOINES, Iowa (IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – A pregnant, homeless asylum-seeker in Des Moines is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over its alleged failure to grant her authorization to work in the United States.
The lawsuit was filed by Dania Abdulrahman in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa against DHS and U.S. Customs and Immigration Services.
Also named as defendants are Carrie M. Selby, the acting associate director for Service Center Operations within the customs and immigration office, and Markwayne Mullin, head of the Department of Homeland Security.
According to the lawsuit, Abdulrahman entered the United States legally from Syria in 2016. At the time, Abdulrahman was 10 years old and was accompanied by her family, which was seeking asylum in the United States.
The lawsuit states Abdulrahman was placed in foster care in 2020 and then, in 2024, aged out of the foster care system at age 18. In April 2024, she applied for asylum-based work authorization, which would enable her to legally work for a living in the United States.
The lawsuit alleges that although federal law requires U.S. Customs and Immigration Services to rule on such applications within 30 days, more than 750 days have now passed, and Abdulrahman is still waiting on a decision.
“As a result, Ms. Abdulrahman is not legally allowed to accept employment,” her attorney, Katherine Melloy Goettel, told the court recently. “Without income, she has faced housing insecurity and has been unable to receive necessary medical care for herself and her unborn child.”
“If she was lucky, she would find food somewhere in the streets of Des Moines. When she was unlucky, she would go hungry.”
Since aging out of foster care two years ago, Goettel said in court filings, Abdulrahman has been homeless. “If she was lucky, she would find food somewhere in the streets of Des Moines,” Goettel told the court. “When she was unlucky, she would go hungry.”
Abdulrahman has not been to a dentist in years, Goettel said, and during her first 15 weeks of pregnancy saw a doctor only once, and that was during a visit to a hospital emergency room.
The lawsuit claims Abdulrahman has contacted U.S. Customs and Immigration Services several times to inquire as to the status of her application but no action in the matter has been taken. Abdulrahman has also sought assistance from U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, although, the lawsuit claims, Grassley’s office has indicated that U.S. Customs and Immigration Services was of “no help whatsoever” in resolving the issue.
The lawsuit alleges U.S. Customs and Immigration Services is in violation of the federal Administrative Procedures Act by failing to meet its statutory deadline for decisions on such matters and for forcing Abdulrahman to wait at least 25 times longer for a decision than what the law allows.
Abdulrahman’s lawyer is asking the court to assume jurisdiction in the case, immediately grant the sought-after work authorization, and order the federal government to pay her attorney’s fees in the case.
The defendants have yet to file a response to the lawsuit’s allegations.
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