The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) published a decision in the case of Matter of L-L-P-, 28 I&N Dec. 241 (BIA 2021) today.  The decision held that an applicant for special rule cancellation of removal under section 240A(b)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(2) (2018), based on spousal abuse must demonstrate both that the abuser was his or her lawful spouse and possessed either United States citizenship or lawful permanent resident status at the time of the abuse.  The case was one of first impression because the statute is silent as to the temporal requirement, if any, of the abuser's status.  Special Rule Cancellation still has fewer requirements than a self-petition filed with Form I-360.

The Third Circuit released two immigration decisions today, as far as I can tell: Paul v. Att'y Gen., No-20-1979, (3d Cir. 2021) (unpublished) and Patel v. Att'y Gen., No. 20-2018 (3d Cir. 2021) (unpublished).  Focusing on Paul, a panel of Greenaway, Krause, and Bibas denied, per curiam, Paul's petition for review.  The opinion reasons that Immigration Judge John B. Carle did not err in finding that Paul's proposed particular social group, "Haitian homeless," did not meet the "particularity requirement to be a cognizable social group because it was vast, diffuse, and amorphous."  Id. at 4.  Further, the panel found that the IJ Carle did not err in finding that Paul's experiences in Haiti did not amount to torture where he had once been involved in a violent robbery."  Id. at 5.

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