Lopez-Birrueta v. Holder
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
633 F.3d 1211 (2011)
Lopez-Birrueta (plaintiff), never married to Campos, fled with their two young children after Campos repeatedly struck them (causing welts requiring medical treatment) and drove drunk with them in the car; the immigration judge found her abuse testimony credible but held the children hadn't been "battered" or subjected to "extreme cruelty" under the special-rule cancellation statute, partly by applying a heightened violence standard borrowed from California criminal sentencing law, and the BIA affirmed.
Whether an unmarried alien may seek a special rule cancellation of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act for acts of violence committed against her child by the other parent.