Jose Corea v. Todd Blanche

── Jose Corea v. Todd Blanche ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Date: May 20, 2026 Category: General NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0223n.06 No. 25-3853 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED May 20, 2026 KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) JOSE LINO COREA, ) Petitioner, ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW ) FROM THE BOARD OF v. ) IMMIGRATION APPEALS ) TODD W. BLANCHE, Acting U.S. Attorney ) General, OPINION ) Respondent. ) ) ) Before: BOGGS, CLAY, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges. CLAY, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Jose Lino Corea filed an application for cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). An immigration judge (“IJ”) denied Petitioner’s application and the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirmed. Petitioner now petitions for review of the BIA’s order. For the reasons set forth below, we DENY the petition for review. I. BACKGROUND Petitioner Jose Lino Corea is a citizen of Honduras who entered the United States without admission in September 2001. On January 14, 2014, Petitioner received a Notice to Appear which charged him with being inadmissible pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). Before an IJ, Petitioner conceded the charge. Petitioner then filed an application for cancellation of removal, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). The basis for Petitioner’s application is his relationship with his U.S.-citizen son. In 2014, Petitioner fathered a child named Eric Williams and co-parented his son with Eric’s mother for the No. 25-3853, Lino Corea v. Blanche next three years. Eventually, Petitioner and Eric’s mother separated and the mother took custody of Eric when she married someone else and moved out of the family residence. Petitioner last saw his son in April 2017 and has since engaged in ongoing state custody proceedings with Eric’s mother. On November 10, 2021, Petitioner appeared before an IJ for a hearing on his application. Petitioner testified that he had regularly visited his son and had paid $300 a month in child support to his mother until Eric’s mother moved away with Eric. He only learned where Eric’s mother had taken their son after her husband filed a petition to adopt Eric. Petitioner did not know whether Eric had any medical conditions. He did, however, know that Eric had no psychological issues and was doing very well in school. Petitioner had even saved $55,000, some of which was to be for Eric’s education. Petitioner was also concerned that Eric would suffer from Petitioner’s deportation because Petitioner would then be out of Eric’s life. The IJ reviewed Petitioner’s testimony and the record evidence and made several determinations. First, the IJ noted that there was insufficient evidence in the record to establish significant emotional hardship to Eric from Petitioner’s deportation because Petitioner had not contacted Eric in four years and it was unclear whether Eric would remember Petitioner from the first three years of his life. The IJ also found that Eric had strong family ties in the United States through his mother and stepfather. The IJ f