Opinion ID: 625910
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Inability to Present Evidence

Text: An immigration judge has the authority to narrow the focus of a hearing and exclude irrelevant evidence, but he may not bar complete chunks of oral testimony that would support the applicant's claim. Barradas, 582 F.3d at 766 (citing Kerciku v. INS, 314 F.3d 913, 918 (7th Cir.2003)). When excluded testimony goes to the heart of a petitioner's claims, and may have had the potential to change the outcome of the hearing, we must find that the petitioner did not have a meaningful opportunity to be heard. See Rodriguez Galicia v. Gonzales, 422 F.3d 529, 540 (7th Cir.2005). In Zolotukhin v. Gonzales, the IJ prevented several key witnessesincluding petitioner's grandmother, petitioner's mother, petitioner himself, and an expertfrom testifying about the persecution suffered by the petitioner's family and others similarly situated in petitioner's home country, on the grounds that past persecution is unimportant. 417 F.3d 1073, 1075-76 (9th Cir.2005). The Ninth Circuit held that this testimony could have shown that petitioner had a well-founded fear of future persecution, and thus altered the result of his hearing, and thus found a violation of petitioner's rights. Id. at 1076-77. The IJ also indicated that she did not believe the petitioner's story, before his hearing even began. Id. at 1075. In Apouviepseakoda, conversely, the IJ's denial of certain witnesses' proposed testimony was not found to be a violation of the petitioner's procedural rights. 475 F.3d at 889. In that case, the IJ declined to hear the testimony of the petitioner's daughterwhich would have included information about the abuse that petitioner suffered in her home countryand the testimony of an expert on the politics of petitioner's home country. Id. at 888. The IJ instead accepted an offer of proof. We reasoned that [t]he typical context in which we have found fault with an IJ's decision to deny corroborating witness testimony has arisen where an IJ has `made up his mind about the case and was subsequently unwilling to listen to any testimony,' despite the diligent insistence of the alien's counsel that the testimony speaks directly to the questions the IJ is supposed to evaluate in making the decision. Id. at 888-89 (quoting Kerciku v. INS, 314 F.3d 913, 918 (7th Cir.2003)). Since the petitioner's counsel made no objection to the IJ's refusal to hear the two witnesses' testimony and the petitioner received plenty of time and opportunity to argue her case generally, we held that she received a reasonable opportunity to be heard, despite her less than perfect hearing. Id. at 889. Delgado challenges two decisions by the IJ to restrict the evidence he was permitted to present. First, he challenges the IJ's decision not to allow any new evidence to be admitted at Delgado's 2007 hearing. This error was cured when Delgado received a full hearing in 2010, and thus could not have prejudiced Delgado. Apouviepseakoda, 475 F.3d at 885. Delgado also challenges the IJ's decision to permit only one of Delgado's daughters, Guadalupe, to testify. As with the exclusions of testimony in Apouviepseakoda, Delgado's attorneys did not object to the IJ's decision to permit only one daughter to testify in this case. Further, unlike the decisions made by the IJ in Zolotukhin, the decision to exclude Daisy's testimony does not suggest that the IJ in this case already made up his mind. The exclusion of Daisy's testimony is better explained by a desire to focus the testimony provided and cut out extraneous, cumulative, or unnecessary evidence. This conclusion is bolstered by the fact that both Delgado and his daughter Guadalupe testified as to the likely effects that Delgado's deportation would have on Daisy, as well as the IJ's stated desire to avoid unnecessary stress and pressure on children that must testify in proceedings of this nature. Even if Daisy's testimony was inappropriately excluded, Delgado has not shown that he was prejudiced by this exclusion. He has not suggested any testimony that she would have provided that was not already revealed through the testimony of Delgado and Guadalupe. The record reflects that Delgado appears to be a responsible individual with a strong sense of family and work ethic who has lived a peaceful and productive life in the United States for over 20 years. However, considering the totality of the circumstances surrounding his cancellation hearing, it cannot be said that he failed to receive a full and fair hearing in which he had the reasonable opportunity to present his case.