Background
Odinaka Ethelberth Nwosu, a Nigerian national living in Detroit, Michigan, faced removal proceedings after his business visa expired. He sought withholding of removal based on a 2004 kidnapping of his father and cancellation of removal based on hardship to his three children. An immigration judge denied both claims due to a lack of corroboration for the kidnapping and insufficient evidence of hardship. The Board of Immigration Appeals upheld the decision.
The court’s reasoning
The court affirmed the denial of withholding of removal because the immigration judge reasonably found that Nwosu could have obtained corroborating evidence, such as police reports or affidavits from family members, but failed to do so. The court noted that credible testimony alone is insufficient without corroboration when the evidence is reasonably obtainable. Regarding cancellation of removal, the court found that Nwosu failed to meet the demanding standard of exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. His children would remain in the United States with a working mother, and the emotional or financial strains of his removal were not sufficient to meet the statutory threshold.
We thus deny his petition for review.
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces the requirement for immigrants to actively seek and present corroborating evidence for their claims of persecution and hardship, even when their testimony is found credible.