Filed: Sep. 13, 2016
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 16-1157 YING LIN, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Submitted: September 8, 2016 Decided: September 13, 2016 Before MOTZ, DUNCAN, and WYNN, Circuit Judges. Petition dismissed in part and denied in part by unpublished per curiam opinion. Bruno J. Bembi, LAW OFFICE OF BRUNO J. BEMBI, Hempstead, New York, for Petitioner. Benjamin
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 16-1157 YING LIN, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Submitted: September 8, 2016 Decided: September 13, 2016 Before MOTZ, DUNCAN, and WYNN, Circuit Judges. Petition dismissed in part and denied in part by unpublished per curiam opinion. Bruno J. Bembi, LAW OFFICE OF BRUNO J. BEMBI, Hempstead, New York, for Petitioner. Benjamin C..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 16-1157
YING LIN,
Petitioner,
v.
LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration
Appeals.
Submitted: September 8, 2016 Decided: September 13, 2016
Before MOTZ, DUNCAN, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.
Petition dismissed in part and denied in part by unpublished per
curiam opinion.
Bruno J. Bembi, LAW OFFICE OF BRUNO J. BEMBI, Hempstead, New
York, for Petitioner. Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal Deputy
Assistant Attorney General, Kiley Kane, Senior Litigation
Counsel, Kathryn M. McKinney, OFFICE OF IMMIGRATION LITIGATION,
Washington, D.C., for Respondent.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Ying Lin, a native and citizen of the People’s Republic of
China, petitions for review of an order of the Board of
Immigration Appeals (Board) dismissing her appeal from the
immigration judge’s (IJ) decision denying her application for
cancellation of removal. For the reasons set forth below, we
dismiss the petition for review.
Under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) (2012), entitled “Denials
of discretionary relief,” “no court shall have jurisdiction to
review any judgment regarding the granting of relief under
section . . . 1229b,” which is the statutory section governing
cancellation of removal. See Sorcia v. Holder,
643 F.3d 117,
124-25 (4th Cir. 2011) (finding no jurisdiction to review
discretionary denial of cancellation of removal absent
constitutional claim or question of law). Here, the IJ found,
and the Board agreed, that Lin failed to meet her burden of
establishing that her two daughters would suffer exceptional and
extremely unusual hardship if Lin is removed to China. Because
this determination is clearly discretionary in nature, we lack
jurisdiction to review challenges to this finding.
As stated by the Ninth Circuit, “an ‘exceptional and
extremely unusual hardship’ determination is a subjective,
discretionary judgment that has been carved out of our appellate
jurisdiction.” Romero-Torres v. Ashcroft,
327 F.3d 887, 888
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(9th Cir. 2003). The agency’s finding concerning whether an
alien has proved an “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship”
is not a constitutional claim or question of law that is exempt
from the jurisdictional bar set forth in § 1252(a)(2)(B). See,
e.g., Salas-Caballero v. Lynch,
786 F.3d 1077, 1078 (8th Cir.
2015); Sattani v. Holder,
749 F.3d 368, 372 (5th Cir. 2014);
Alhuay v. U.S. Att’y Gen.,
661 F.3d 534, 549-550 (11th Cir.
2011); Solis v. Holder,
647 F.3d 831, 833 (8th Cir. 2011); see
also Obioha v. Gonzales,
431 F.3d 400, 405 (4th Cir. 2005) (“It
is quite clear that the gatekeeper provision [of
§ 1252(a)(2)(B)(i)] bars our jurisdiction to review a decision
of the [Board] to actually deny a petition for cancellation of
removal.”). Indeed, we have concluded that the issue of
hardship is committed to agency discretion and thus is not
subject to appellate review. Okpa v. INS,
266 F.3d 313, 317
(4th Cir. 2001). Lin’s challenge to the agency’s finding that
she did not show that her removal would be an exceptional and
extremely unusual hardship to her two daughters living in the
United States is not a reviewable constitutional claim or
question of law. Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction to review
the denial of cancellation of removal and dismiss in part the
petition for review.
Lin’s contention that she was denied due process because
(1) the IJ did not accept her evidence submitted past the
3
deadline; (2) her counsel appeared by telephone at the merits
hearing; and (3) the IJ denied her motion for a continuance must
fail. Lin cannot state a colorable due process claim because
she has no liberty or property interest at stake. See Aparicio
v. Lynch, __ F.3d __, __,
2016 WL 306809, at *5 (7th Cir. 2016)
(cancellation of removal is “a form of discretionary relief in
which there is no liberty interest at stake”); Nunez-Portillo v.
Holder,
763 F.3d 974, 977 (8th Cir. 2014) (alien has no
protected liberty interest in cancellation of removal); see also
Dekoladenu v. Gonzales,
459 F.3d 500, 508 (4th Cir. 2006) (“No
property or liberty interest can exist when the relief sought is
discretionary.”), abrogated on other grounds by Dada v. Mukasey,
554 U.S. 1 (2008); see also Smith v. Ashcroft,
295 F.3d 425,
429-30 (4th Cir. 2002) (holding that alien’s lack of a
“protected liberty or property interest” in the relief he
sought—a discretionary waiver of deportation—was “a circumstance
fatal to his due process claim”). Even if the Lin could assert
a due process claim, we concluded that she failed to show that
the proceeding was fundamentally unfair. Anim v. Mukasey,
535
F.3d 243, 256 (4th Cir. 2008).
Finally, because Lin failed to show that she substantially
complied with the requirements under In re Lozada, 19 I. & N.
Dec. 637 (B.I.A. 1988), her ineffective assistance of counsel
claim fails.
4
Accordingly, we dismiss in part and deny in part the
petition for review. We dispense with oral argument because the
facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the
materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
PETITION DISMISSED IN PART
AND DENIED IN PART
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