Earlier this week, in a hearing culminating a 4 1/2 year process with many ups and downs, my client- a Guatemalan national and devoted mother of two United States Citizen boys, claimed victory in removal proceedings. Many months of hard work by our client, as well as many in our office, to piece together a complex case finally paid off when the Immigration Judge announced that he would grant her case for Cancellation of Removal for Certain Nonpermanent Residents. This means that she will ultimately be granted lawful permanent residence.
This particular type of relief is among the hardest to obtain due to the very high burden of proof required. To be granted, the applicant must prove: their continuous physical presence for at least 10 years prior to proceedings (so in her case that means essentially 15 years); that they have been a person of “good moral character” for the last 10 years (which often effectively means positive equities and little to no criminal or even traffic record); and – most challenging – that deportation (i.e. “removal”) would result in “extremely unusual and exceptional hardship” to a parent, child, or spouse, that is a US Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident of the US. Mind you, it is not sufficient to show merely that this would result in hardship to the loved one or even extreme hardship, but rather hardship must be proved at one of the highest levels imaginable.
Needless to say, I am quite pleased for my client and her boys.