NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 22a0202n.06 Case No. 21-3880 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED ) May 18, 2022 EDGAR HIJINIO LOPEZ-MEJIA, DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) Petitioner, ) ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW v. ) FROM THE UNITED STATES ) BOARD OF IMMIGRATION MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, ) APPEALS Respondent. ) OPINION ) Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; COLE and DONALD, Circuit Judges. COLE, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Edgar Hijinio Lopez-Mejia petitions this court to review the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of his application for cancellation of removal. Because Lopez-Mejia has not established that his children would face an exceptional hardship upon his removal, we deny his petition. I. Petitioner Lopez-Mejia is a citizen of Guatemala who initially entered the United States in 1998. He lived and worked in several states before ultimately settling in West Virginia, where he worked in construction. In 2005, Lopez-Mejia met a United States citizen, Tammy Lea Massey, whom he married in 2010; they separated in 2013 and divorced in 2015. While married to Massey, Lopez-Mejia fathered two children with another woman, Francisca Mateo Valdez, in 2011 and 2012. And after his divorce, he and Valdez had a third child in 2018. Case No. 21-3880, Lopez-Mejia v. Garland Deportation proceedings against Lopez-Mejia began in 2010, and he first applied for cancellation of removal in 2011. Lopez-Mejia submitted an updated application in 2013. These first two applications listed Lopez-Mejia’s then-spouse as his only qualifying relative. Lopez- Mejia later testified that he did not include his children on these applications because he “felt bad” and “wasn’t brave enough[,]” explaining that he “did not want to involve [his] children in [his] problems[.]” (A.R. 233.) An immigration judge held a hearing on his application but continued the case rather than issuing a decision. Lopez-Mejia appeared before the immigration judge for his continued hearing on October 2, 2018. Prior to the continued hearing, Lopez-Mejia submitted a second updated application for cancellation of removal on September 24, 2018. On this application, he listed his three children as qualifying relatives and contended that his removal would cause “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to them. Lopez-Mejia elaborated on this point at the continued hearing, testifying that his removal would leave his children in the United States with Valdez, who is unable to support them with her earnings as a part-time dishwasher. Lopez-Mejia did not provide documentation to confirm the family’s finances, but he believes he will not be able to find work in Guatemala, given that he has been away from his home country for over twenty years, and that he will therefore not be able to provide financial support to his children from abroad. Moreover, Valdez does not have family in the United States, and Lopez-Mejia does not believe that his Indiana-based siblings would help Valdez take care of the children. In addition to financial hardship, Lopez-Mejia attested to two additional hardships his children face. First, he explained that his oldest son has “always [been] a …
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