Eugeniusz Wojciechowicz v. William Barr


NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Argued July 8, 2020 Decided July 13, 2020 Before DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judge AMY C. BARRETT, Circuit Judge AMY J. ST. EVE, Circuit Judge No. 19-3460 EUGENIUSZ WOJCIECHOWICZ, Petition for Review of an Order of the Petitioner, Board of Immigration Appeals. v. No. A 029-604-552 WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. ORDER Eugeniusz Wojciechowicz, a 62-year-old citizen of Poland who moved to the United States more than three decades ago, sought a waiver of inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h) after he was denied admission in 2019 for having been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. The immigration judge denied Wojciechowicz’s application because he did not show extreme hardship and he failed to demonstrate that he merited a favorable exercise of discretion. The Board of Immigration Appeals, without reaching the question of hardship, upheld the decision to deny his application No. 19-3460 Page 2 as a matter of discretion. Because we lack jurisdiction to review Wojciechowicz’s challenge to the Board’s discretionary determination, we dismiss his petition. I. Background Wojciechowicz came to the United States in 1987 on a tourist’s visa and has lived here ever since, working in construction. He married Irena Anchim in 1999 and became a lawful permanent resident in 2004. After the financial crisis in 2008, while working as a subcontractor for companies that sell windows (which he installed), Wojciechowicz double-billed for his work, stealing at least $100,000. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by deception, 720 ILCS § 5/16-1(a)(2), (b)(6); theft by unauthorized control, 720 ILCS § 5/16-1(a)(1), (b)(6); and forgery, 720 ILCS § 5/17-3(a)(1), (d)(1). The court sentenced him to two years of probation and paid $87,000 in restitution. In March 2019, after returning from a trip to Poland for his sister’s funeral, Wojciechowicz was stopped at O’Hare International Airport and deemed inadmissible for having been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I). He then sought a waiver of inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h). Under § 1182(h)(1)(B), the Attorney General may waive the ground of inadmissibility applicable to Wojciechowicz (the crime of moral turpitude) if denial of admission would result in extreme hardship to a lawfully resident family member. See Palma-Martinez v. Lynch, 785 F.3d 1147, 1149 (7th Cir. 2015). At a hearing before the immigration judge in June 2019, Wojciechowicz and his wife (a United States citizen) testified about his application for a waiver of inadmissibility, describing the extreme hardship that she and their two children (also United States citizens) would suffer if he were removed. Wojciechowicz testified that he was the sole income-earner for his family. Irena had stopped working when she married him in 1999, choosing to raise their children, manage the family’s finances, and care for her physically and mentally disabled brother who lived nearby. She also suffered depression, for ...

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