Opinion ID: 625910
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of Delgado's Cancellation Proceedings

Text: An alien applying for cancellation of removal has the same statutory process protections as an alien involved in removal proceedings, which are laid out under 8 U.S.C. § 1229a; cf. Portillo-Rendon, 662 F.3d at 817 (stating that procedural entitlements found in § 1229a apply to alien that applied for cancellation of removal). Under § 1229a(b)(4), an alien subject to a cancellation proceeding shall have a reasonable opportunity to examine the evidence against the alien, to present evidence on the alien's own behalf, and to cross-examine witnesses presented by the Government. See also Apouviepseakoda, 475 F.3d at 885. In order to succeed in challenging the legality of such a hearing, the alien must show not only that her `reasonable opportunity' was denied, but also that she was prejudiced. Id. In the end, the question we must answer is whether, considering the totality of the circumstances, the alien received a full and fair opportunity to be heard. Id. at 886. Delgado offers two arguments for why his cancellation proceedings fell short of the standard set by § 1229a. First, he argues that the IJ's aggressive questioning and interruptions, along with IJ's clear hostility toward Delgado, belied any claims to neutrality and demonstrated a bias that prevented Delgado's hearing from being a fair one. Second, Delgado protests the IJ's decision to exclude certain probative evidence in direct violation of § 1229a's warningthat an alien should be able to present evidence on [his] own behalf.
An IJ's decision to question an alien in a removal or cancellation proceeding is not dispositive evidence of bias. Indeed, under § 1229a, an immigration judge is permitted to interrogate, examine, and cross-examine the alien and any witnesses. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(1). Moreover, an immigration judge has broad discretion to control the manner of interrogation in order to ascertain the truth. Iliev v. I.N.S., 127 F.3d 638, 643 (7th Cir.1997). Limiting an IJ's discretion is the applicant's right to a full and fair opportunity to be heard. See Apouviepseakoda, 475 F.3d at 885. As to the manner in which an IJ questions an applicant, we have routinely held that we would prefer IJs to exhibit appropriate decorum during removal or cancellation proceedings, but impatience, inappropriateness, and even hostility toward applicants do not generally rise to such a level as to prevent an applicant from receiving a full and fair hearing. Apouviepseakoda, 475 F.3d at 885-86; Firishchak v. Holder, 636 F.3d 305, 311 (7th Cir.2011). The closest cases are those in which the questioning becomes so aggressive that it frazzles applicants and nit-picks inconsistencies until a petitioner [becomes] so distraught that the immigration judge [is] forced to pause the proceedings to give the [non-citizen] a chance to collect herself. Apouviepseakoda, 475 F.3d at 886 (internal quotation marks omitted) (citing Giday v. Gonzales, 434 F.3d 543, 549 (7th Cir. 2006)). In Castilho de Oliveira v. Holder, we reasoned that an IJ's inappropriate and irrelevant questions, along with his questionable tone, did not prevent a petitioner from putting on his case, but did suggest that he may have been impermissibly biased. 564 F.3d 892, 899 (7th Cir.2009). The IJ in Castilho interrupted an expert witness with inappropriate and confrontational questions, inquired into several witnesses' religious beliefs (despite the fact that the alien was not claiming religious persecution), and asked whether the alien was infertile, or, as the IJ put it, might shoot blanks. Id. We held that the IJ's inappropriate tone, frequent interruptions, and apparent focus on irrelevant matters led to the impression that the IJ entered the hearing with his mind already made up. Id. at 899-900. Conversely, the IJ in Apouviepseakoda was deemed not to have prevented a full and fair hearing, despite the fact that he used a mocking tone, demonstrated intemperance, and may have asked a majority of the questions at the applicant's hearing. 475 F.3d at 886-87. In Apouviepseakoda we emphasized the fact that an IJ's interruption of testimony is not inappropriate as long as it is aimed at focusing the hearing, excluding irrelevant material, and ensure clarity in an applicant's answers. Id. at 877. We further highlighted that the IJ deferred to the applicant's counsel to direct the topics of discussion and gave applicant's counsel multiple opportunities to question the applicant. Id. at 887-88. Similarly, in Barradas v. Holder we determined that an IJ's interjections and questioning of the applicant were not inappropriate, given that the interjections were aimed at clarification, the interjections did not concern irrelevant or inappropriate matters, and the questioning occurred after the government had a chance to question the applicant. 582 F.3d 754, 767 (7th Cir.2009). Turning to the case at hand, the IJ's interruptions and questioning did not rise to the level of those seen in Castilho. The IJ's substantive interruptions of Delgado's testimony included a question about whether Delgado had paid a bond ordered by the court, a question attempting to clarify whether Delgado was referring to his home in Chicago or his potential future home in Mexico, and an attempt to determine the import of a line of questioning involving the living conditions at Delgado's parents' home. All of these questions are clearly relevant, unlike the questions asked by the IJ in Castilho. Further, any hostility, impatience, or rudeness exhibited by the IJ was significantly less than the rudeness exhibited in Apouviepseakoda, and yet we deemed the hearing in Apouviepseakoda to be full and fair. In Apouviepseakoda, for instance, we observed that the IJ mocked the applicant regarding a cultural difference between the United States and her home in Africa. 475 F.3d at 886-87. The most that can be said about the IJ in this case is that he might have appeared sarcastic when questioning why Delgado would choose to live in Morelos instead of a safer part of Mexico, and that the IJ was perturbed by Delgado's lack of evidentiary support for his belief that there are no jobs in Morelos. Any of the inquiries on the part of the IJ cannot be labeled as having prevented Delgado from having a reasonable opportunity to present his case, and do not support the contention that the IJ harbored any bias toward Delgado.
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.