FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION MAY 19 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
MARIA LUZ ACIBO SANTOS, No. 10-72840
Petitioner, Agency No. A096-402-179
v.
MEMORANDUM*
ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted May 15, 2014**
San Francisco, California
Before: GRABER, W. FLETCHER, and PAEZ, Circuit Judges.
Maria Luz Acibo Santos (“Santos”), a native and citizen of the Philippines,
petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”)
affirming the denial of her application for special rule cancellation of removal
under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(2). Santos asserts that she qualifies for special rule
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
cancellation of removal because she was subjected to extreme cruelty when her
husband abandoned her in the United States.
We have jurisdiction to review the nondiscretionary determination of
whether an applicant has shown extreme cruelty under § 1229b(b)(2). Hernandez
v. Ashcroft, 345 F.3d 824, 833-35 (9th Cir. 2003). Accordingly, we review the
BIA’s factual determination regarding Santos’s eligibility for removal for
substantial evidence. Gutierrez v. Mukasey, 521 F.3d 1114, 1116 (9th Cir. 2008).
In order to qualify for special rule cancellation of removal under §
1229b(b)(2), an applicant must meet five enumerated requirements, including that
“she had been ‘battered or subjected to extreme cruelty’ by a spouse who is or was
a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident.” Lopez-Umanzor v.
Gonzales, 405 F.3d 1049, 1053 (9th Cir. 2005) (some internal quotation marks
omitted). The concept of extreme cruelty is reserved “for something other than
physical assault, presumably actions in some way involving mental or
psychological cruelty.” Hernandez, 345 F.3d at 838. To show extreme cruelty,
however, an applicant must establish that she has experienced more than mere
unkindness or insults. Rather, non-physical actions will result in extreme cruelty
when “tactics of control are intertwined with the threat of harm in order to maintain
2
the perpetrator’s dominance through fear.” Id. at 840 (internal quotation marks
omitted).
Here, Santos alleges only that her husband abandoned her in the United
States when he returned to the Phillippines to care for his ill father and did not
return for Santos’s I-130 interview. Without more, Santos has not established that
such actions rise to the level of extreme cruelty. We therefore deny the petition for
review.
PETITION DENIED.
3