The Fifth Circuit has determined that the standards for reopening to pursue VAWA cancellation of removal —found at 8 USC 1229a(c)(7)(C)(iv)(III) — present a mixed question of fact and law that the court has jurisdiction to review. Thus, the court examined whether the petitioner had established extreme hardship or extraordinary circumstances that warranted reopening.
“We need not—and do not—determine the precise contours of ‘extraordinary circumstances or extreme hardship to the alien’s child’ with our opinion today. Nor, indeed, did the BIA in its decision. But whatever the precise contours of that standard, we can say confidently that the ordinary (terrible) circumstances of a VAWA-based motion to reopen and the usual hardships of a relocation do not suffice. Congress has given petitioners an opportunity to seek relief beyond the usual filing deadline, but it limits that opportunity to extraordinary or extreme cases.”
The full text of Pena-Lopez v. Garland can be found here:
https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-60911-CV0.pdf