Matter of A-M-
Board of Immigration Appeals
25 I. & N. Dec. 66 (2009)
A Mexican citizen respondent married a United States citizen in 1984 who physically and mentally abused her; the couple separated in 1996, and she became a legal permanent resident in 2001 under battered-spouse provisions of the INA and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). After a 2003 DUI conviction and a 2004 divorce, she also brought two unrelated minor children into the United States that same year, prompting DHS to initiate removal proceedings; she moved for special rule cancellation of removal as a battered spouse, and while proceedings were pending, remarried a non-abusive husband, hadn't seen her first husband since 1998, and had three children in the U.S. plus a job, though without proof she'd filed income taxes. The immigration judge granted cancellation of removal, and DHS appealed.
Whether special rule cancellation of removal for battered spouses under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 generally should be granted when the past abusive relationship has ended and the former abusive spouse no longer poses a threat.