Matter of Lopez-Davila

Summary

The Board of Immigration Appeals sustained DHS's appeal and vacated the Immigration Judge's grant of cancellation of removal, holding that a parent's decision to leave a U.S. citizen child in the United States without parental care does not, by itself, create exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. The Board clarified that parental care is not the only sufficient care for a qualifying relative child and remanded for further fact-finding on all relevant hardship factors.

Holdings

1. The decision of a parent to leave his or her United States citizen child in the United States without parental care does not, on its own, create exceptional and extremely unusual hardship as required for cancellation of removal under section 240A(b)(1)(D) of the INA.
2. Parental care is not the only care sufficient for a qualifying relative child who is remaining in the United States; a child may be competently cared for by an adult other than a parent.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the respondent demonstrated that his removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to his qualifying relative child when the hardship is based on the parent's decision to leave the child in the United States without parental care.
2. Whether parental care is the only care sufficient for a qualifying relative child remaining in the United States.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded