WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.
Olaronke Champion, a citizen of Nigeria, legally entered the United States in 1988. The government initiated removal proceedings against her in 2005. Champion applied for cancellation of removal based on the hardship that would result to her minor children if she would be deported. The immigration judge ("IJ") denied her application, in part because he concluded that other family members, including the children's father who was also under removal proceedings, were available to support the children in the event that Champion was deported. The Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") affirmed the denial of relief, and Champion petitioned this court for review. We affirm the BIA's findings with respect to Champion's due process claims because she had a full opportunity to present her case and the IJ did not consider improper information. However, because the BIA did not address Champion's claim that the possibility of the deportation of the children's father would constitute an extremely unusual hardship, we remand for further consideration.
Olaronke Champion is a native and citizen of Nigeria. She entered the United States in 1988 under a tourist visa. In 1991, she married a United States citizen and applied for status adjustment based on her marriage. Immigration and Naturalization
Champion conceded removability but requested cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1).
At the end of the hearing, Champion's attorney requested closing argument, but the IJ declined, saying that he "would ask [counsel] to reserve on the closing argument" because there were "no significant issues of law or really even fact, that needed to be discussed." The IJ then asked whether there was "anything else before he issue[d] an oral decision," and Champion's attorney did not reply.
The IJ determined that Champion had not demonstrated that she qualified for cancellation of removal because she had not shown that her daughters would suffer the requisite exceptional or extremely unusual hardship if she were removed. The IJ specified that the children could still
Where, as here, the BIA affirms the IJ's decision and supplements with its own explanation for denying the appeal, we review the IJ's decision as supplemented by the BIA's reasoning. Juarez v. Holder, 599 F.3d 560, 564 (7th Cir.2010). Before we turn to the merits, however, we must first consider whether we have jurisdiction to review the IJ's discretionary and factual determination that Champion was ineligible for cancellation of removal. Generally, we do not have jurisdiction to evaluate discretionary decisions made by the Attorney General, see 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). So we lack jurisdiction over the BIA's ultimate determination that Champion was ineligible for cancellation of removal. Nonetheless, under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D), we retain jurisdiction to review constitutional claims and questions of law raised in a petition for review.
We conclude that one of Champion's central arguments on appeal—that the BIA failed to consider the impact of Yomi's potential removal—is a question of law appropriate for our review. In large part, the BIA and the IJ based their finding that Champion's children would not suffer extreme hardship on an assumption that Yomi, the children's father, would be available to emotionally and financially support the children if Champion were deported to Nigeria. At several points in the IJ's oral ruling, he referenced Yomi's profession as a "physician in Chicago," saying that "Tomi and Toni can rely on their father's support". The IJ went on to recount Yomi's salary and the various ways in which he had financially supported Champion and their children over the years, including lending Champion $40,000 to use as the down payment for the family's home and his contributions to the monthly mortgage.
We find that Champion's allegation that the BIA ignored the evidence she presented concerning Yomi's potential deportation was a good faith claim of legal error that we may review. As we have previously held, "a claim that the BIA has completely ignored the evidence put forth by a petitioner is an allegation of legal error." Iglesias v. Mukasey, 540 F.3d 528, 531 (7th Cir.2008). And the "failure to exercise discretion or to consider factors acknowledged to be material to such an exercise—such as the wholesale failure to consider evidence—would be an error of law...." Id. (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). Here, both the IJ and the BIA virtually ignored the possibility
Champion also attempts to raise two constitutional claims, alleging that she was deprived of due process when the IJ refused to allow her to present a closing argument and when he referenced the visa fraud allegation in his oral decision. Both arguments fail because Champion has not articulated a protected liberty or property interest and, in any event, she was afforded due process. To articulate a due process claim, Champion must demonstrate that she has a protected liberty or property interest under the Fifth Amendment. See Khan v. Mukasey, 517 F.3d 513, 518 (7th Cir.2008) ("[I]t is well-established that a party complaining of a due-process violation must assert a liberty interest in order to maintain [her] due-process claim."). Aliens have a Fifth Amendment right to due process in some immigration proceedings, but not in those that are discretionary. Id. (no due process right in "proceedings that provide only ... discretionary relief because an appeal to discretion is not a substantive entitlement") (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Because cancellation of removal is a discretionary form of relief, it does not confer onto Champion a liberty or property interest.
Even assuming Champion had a protected interest, a review of the record indicates that she was afforded due process. Champion first claims that she was denied due process when the IJ refused to allow her to give a closing argument. But immigration judges have wide discretion to "receive and consider material and relevant evidence, rule upon objections, and otherwise regulate the course of the hearing," 8 C.F.R. § 1240.1(c), and declining to allow a closing argument after extensive testimony and argument is within the judge's broad authority. See Yap v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 318 F.2d 839, 841 (7th Cir.1963) (holding that immigration adjudicator did not abuse discretion by ruling on alien's deportability before hearing closing argument). The IJ's refusal to allow closing argument does not contravene the INA's requirement that aliens "have a reasonable opportunity to examine the evidence against [them], to present evidence on [their] own behalf, and to cross-examine witnesses presented by the Government...." 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(4)(B). Here, it does appear that Champion had a full opportunity to present evidence, as demonstrated by her own testimony and that of her eldest daughter, Tomi, which detailed Champion's background and the ways in which her deportation would adversely affect her children. Thus, while it might have been preferable for the IJ to allow a closing statement, his decision not to do so did not violate any statutory or regulatory requirements, and, therefore, did not deprive Champion of due process. See Juarez, 599 F.3d at 566 ("[I]mmigration proceedings satisfy due process so long as they conform
Finally, Champion's claim that the IJ's passing references to the visa fraud allegation violated due process also lacks merit. There is no indication that the IJ took the alleged marriage fraud into consideration when making his ultimate decision. At most, the IJ referred to the allegations during his summary of the testimonial and documentary evidence at the beginning of his decision. He stated:
The IJ's use of the terms "allegations" and "belief by the government" indicate that he did not necessarily accept the allegations as true, but rather was merely restating them to provide context. At no point in his discussion of whether Champion had demonstrated "exceptional or extremely unusual hardship"—the sole issue in contention at the hearing—did the IJ ever reference the alleged fraud. And his passing reference to the allegation does not indicate that he relied on it in making his hardship determination, which distinguishes this case from Zhang v. Gonzales, 434 F.3d 993 (7th Cir.2006), on which Champion relies. There, we found that the IJ had inappropriately "dwelled at length" on charges of visa fraud (which the government had subsequently withdrawn) as the basis for his adverse credibility determination. Id. at 997. In contrast, the IJ here only made brief mention of the earlier fraud allegations when explaining the background of the case, and he never indicated that the withdrawn charge had any bearing on his ultimate decision. Based on this record, we do not believe that the IJ considered the fraud allegations when making his hardship determination.
We AFFIRM the BIA's decisions as to Champion's due process claims. With respect to the hardship analysis under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(D), we GRANT the petition for review, VACATE the BIA's decision, and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.