The Board of Immigration Appeals has reversed a grant of a 212(h) waiver and adjustment of status to a Barbadian respondent. The respondent relied on hardship to his U.S. citizen wife and children and lawful permanent resident mother, but DHS appealed the Immigration Judge’s grant of relief.

The Board held that the emotional and financial difficulties the respondent’s family would experience did not rise to extreme hardship. The Board also found that the respondent’s serious and lengthy criminal history, including convictions and non-conviction conduct, outweighed his equities in the discretionary analysis. The Board sustained DHS’s appeal and ordered him removed to Barbados.

The full text of Matter of Best can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1449611/dl?inline

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