The Eighth Circuit has denied a petition for review filed by a Guatemalan mother of six U.S. citizen children who sought cancellation of removal after living in the United States for approximately twenty years. The petitioner argued that her removal would cause qualifying hardship to her children.
The Court adopted substantial evidence review for cancellation hardship determinations after Wilkinson and concluded that the record did not compel a finding of exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. The Court also rejected the petitioner’s due process arguments, finding no liberty interest in discretionary cancellation of removal, and found that her voluntary departure argument was moot because she had already been removed.
The full text of Lopez-Vasquez v. Blanche can be found here: https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/26/05/251338P.pd