Bouras v. Holder

In action by alien seeking discretionary waiver of removal on ground that alien (conditional permanent resident who was divorced from U.S. citizen at time of removal proceeding) had entered into his 2.5-year marriage in good faith, IJ did abuse his discretion in denying alien’s request for continuance to take testimony of his ex-wife, where alien made said request at end of removal hearing, and where IJ found that alien had not established extenuating circumstances to justify last-minute continuance request. Record showed that counsel had only notified ex-wife about hearing approximately five days prior to said hearing, even though counsel had been aware of hearing date for approximately six months, and ex-wife stated that her job duties in Columbus, Ohio precluded her from attending hearing in Chicago. Dissenting Justice, though, found that: (1) evidence establishing that alien had not married ex-wife in good faith was weak; (2) IJ should have explored other means to obtain ex-wife’s testimony; and (3) IJ had arbitrary rule that typically denied continuance requests once case had been scheduled for hearing.