Hector Gonzalez-Rivas v. Merrick B. Garland, No. 21-3364 (8th Cir. 2022)
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Petitioner, a native and citizen of Guatemala, applied for cancellation of removal pursuant to 8 U.S.C. Section 1229b(b)(1). He has three children, who were 19, 10, and 5 years old at the time of the merits hearing in April 2017. The immigration judge denied Petitioner’s application. The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissed his appeal, and Petitioner timely petitioned for review of the BIA’s decision.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that Petitioner failed to provide authority allowing the court to direct the BIA to implement a new analytical standard for exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. To the extent Petitioner claims the BIA misapplied the applicable hardship standard—a question of law which the court may review—his claim is without merit. Further, the court wrote that the BIA’s discretionary conclusion that the hardship to the children is not substantially beyond that typically caused by an alien’s removal “is precisely the discretionary determination that Congress shielded from our review.”
Court Description: [Erickson, Author, with Gruender and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Petition for Review - Immigration. The BIA's discretionary conclusion that the hardship that Petitioner's removal would cause his children was not substantially beyond that typically caused by an alien's removal is not subject to the court's review, and the petition for review is dismissed. [ November 22, 2022 ]
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