Case Explained: MEDRANO-VELASQUEZ V. BLANCHE

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-06-24 The ninth-circuit denied the petition for review in part and dismissed it in part regarding Jose Luis Medrano-Velasquez’s request for cancellation of removal and voluntary departure. The court held that substantial evidence supports the Board of Immigration Appeals’ determination that the petitioner failed to demonstrate “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to qualifying relatives, rejecting his arguments that the agency ignored relevant evidence or failed to assess hardship in the aggregate. Regarding the denial of voluntary departure, the court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i), noting that federal courts cannot review discretionary decisions on this form of relief absent a colorable constitutional or legal claim, which were not raised. Additionally, the motion to stay removal was denied as moot. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.