Martha Martinez-Lara v. U.S. Attorney General

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[PUBLISH]

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-10105

____________________

ISAAC LOPEZ-MARTINEZ,

Petitioner,

versus

U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL,

Respondent.

____________________

Petitions for Review of a Decision of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

Agency No. A201-176-127

____________________

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2 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

____________________

No. 23-12058

____________________

MARTHA MARTINEZ-LARA,

Petitioner,

versus

U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL,

Respondent.

____________________

Petitions for Review of a Decision of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

Agency No. A213-099-647

____________________

Before NEWSOM, GRANT, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges.

NEWSOM, Circuit Judge:

Isaac Lopez-Martinez and Martha Martinez-Lara have lived in

the United States for more than two decades but now face removal

to Mexico. They each applied for cancellation of removal, arguing

that deportation would cause their U.S.-citizen son an “exceptional

and extremely unusual hardship.” 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(D). An

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23-10105 Opinion of the Court 3

immigration judge denied their applications, and the Board of Im-

migration Appeals affirmed. Isaac and Martha now ask us to vacate

the Board’s decisions. We hold, though, that we must review the

Board’s application of § 1229b(b)(1)(D)’s hardship test under the

deferential substantial-evidence standard and, having done so, that

there is no basis for rejecting the Board’s determination. We there-

fore deny the petitions for review.

I

A

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a noncitizen

who violates the immigration laws and faces removal has “several

avenues for discretionary relief.” Wilkinson v. Garland, 601 U.S. 209,

212 (2024). One option is to convince an immigration judge to

“cancel” his removal. Id. The cancellation analysis “proceeds in

two steps.” Id. First, the judge “must decide whether the nonciti-

zen is eligible for cancellation under the relevant statutory criteria.”

Id. If the noncitizen has never received a green card, he “is eligible

for cancellation of removal . . . if he meets four requirements.” Id.

at 213. Only the fourth is relevant here: The noncitizen must “‘es-

tablish[] that removal would result in exceptional and extremely

unusual hardship to [his] spouse, parent, or child,’ who is a U.S. cit-

izen or lawful permanent resident.” Id. (second alteration in origi-

nal) (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(D)). 1 If the noncitizen satisfies

1 To satisfy the first three requirements, the noncitizen must show that he

(1) “has been physically present in the United States for a continuous period of

not less than 10 years immediately preceding the date of such application,”

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4 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

all four criteria—including the hardship requirement—the judge

moves to the second step, at which he “decides whether to exercise

his discretion favorably and grant the noncitizen relief.” Id. at 212–

13.

The federal courts have limited jurisdiction to review cancel-

lation-of-removal decisions. As relevant here, Congress has pre-

scribed, and circumscribed, our jurisdiction in a three-part zigzag.

First, the Immigration and Nationality Act grants us the general

authority to review final removal orders. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1).

But second, the Act divests us of jurisdiction over “judgment[s] re-

garding” cancellation of removal. Id. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i); see id.

§ 1229b. But then third, the Act partially reinstates our jurisdic-

tion—to review “constitutional claims or questions of law.” Id.

§ 1252(a)(2)(D).

Our jurisdiction over “questions of law” extends to whether

a removal will cause an “exceptional and extremely unusual hard-

ship” within the meaning of § 1229b(b)(1)(D). In Guerrero-Lasprilla

v. Barr, the Supreme Court held that the phrase “questions of law”

in § 1252(a)(2)(D) encompasses “the application of a legal standard

to undisputed or established facts”—i.e., so-called “mixed ques-

tions.” 589 U.S. 221, 227–28 (2020). And more recently, in Wilkinson

v. Garland, the Court further held that “the application of the ‘ex-

ceptional and extremely unusual hardship’ standard” is a “mixed

(2) “has been a person of good moral character” during that period, and

(3) hasn’t been convicted of certain criminal offenses. 8 U.S.C.

§ 1229b(b)(1)(A)–(C).

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question”—and “therefore a ‘question of law’ that is reviewable un-

der § 1252(a)(2)(D).” 601 U.S. at 222 (alteration accepted). The up-

shot is that, on a petition for review of a final order of removal, our

jurisdiction extends to immigration authorities’ conclusion that an

applicant for cancellation of removal hasn’t satisfied

§ 1229b(b)(1)(D)’s exceptional-and-extremely-unusual-hardship

standard. 2

B

The petitioners here are a married couple, Isaac Lopez-Mar-

tinez and Martha Martinez-Lara. Isaac and Martha are both citi-

zens of Mexico who have long lived in the United States. But the

couple’s presence here is legally tenuous: Neither is a U.S. citizen

or a legal permanent resident, and they have unlawfully entered the

country several times, most recently in 2007.

Isaac and Martha have two U.S.-born (and thus U.S.-citizen)

minor children. One of them, I.L., has a learning disability, has

been diagnosed with ADHD, and has been in specialized class-

rooms since the second grade. I.L. regularly sees doctors for his

2 Before Wilkinson, we had held that we lacked jurisdiction over the “determi-

nation of whether an applicant’s relatives will experience exceptional and ex-

tremely unusual hardship.” Flores-Alonso v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 36 F.4th 1095, 1100

(11th Cir. 2022) (per curiam). That portion of Flores-Alonso was overruled by

Wilkinson and is therefore no longer good law. See Wilkinson, 601 U.S. at 217

n.2 (specifically identifying Flores-Alonso as falling on the wrong side of the pre-

Wilkinson circuit split over a hardship determination’s reviewability).

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6 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

conditions, takes medication, attends therapy sessions, and has an

Individualized Education Program at his school.

C

Several years ago, the Department of Homeland Security

charged Isaac and Martha with inadmissibility and commenced re-

moval proceedings. The couple conceded inadmissibility and filed

applications for cancellation of removal under § 1229b(b)(1)(D)’s

discretionary-relief provision. They both argued that removal

would cause I.L. exceptional and extremely unusual hardship; in

particular, they said, I.L. would have to accompany the couple to

Mexico, where he wouldn’t be able to obtain the proper health care

or education.

An immigration judge held a hearing and then, in two sepa-

rate (but materially identical) decisions, rejected Isaac’s and Mar-

tha’s applications. The judge found both Isaac and Martha to be

credible and agreed that they met the first three step-one criteria

for cancellation of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(A)–(C). She

concluded, though, that they didn’t satisfy the fourth criterion, the

hardship standard. See id. § 1229b(b)(1)(D). The judge acknowl-

edged that removal would be difficult for I.L., but she found that

the difficulty didn’t meet the “very high” exceptional-and-ex-

tremely-unusual-hardship bar. Because Isaac and Martha weren’t

eligible for cancellation at step one, the judge didn’t reach the step-

two discretionary determination.

The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed. In two sepa-

rate single-judge decisions, the Board agreed with the immigration

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23-10105 Opinion of the Court 7

judge’s conclusion that removal wouldn’t cause I.L. an “exceptional

and extremely unusual hardship” within the meaning of

§ 1229b(b)(1)(D).

Isaac and Martha petitioned us for review. Their arguments

focus on the Board’s application of the “exceptional and extremely

unusual hardship” standard. Following the Supreme Court’s deci-

sion in Wilkinson, which clarified our jurisdiction, we ordered sup-

plemental briefing regarding the standard of review that applies to

the Board’s application of § 1229b(b)(1)(D)’s hardship standard.

We now consider the couple’s consolidated petitions for review.

II

There is a surfeit of standards by which appellate courts re-

view other tribunals’ decisions. The most familiar are the standards

that apply when appellate courts review lower-court decisions. In

this “court/court” context, one of three standards typically applies,

depending on the issue. An appellate court reviews a lower court’s

resolution of legal questions “de novo,” its determination of fac-

tual questions for “clear error,” and its handling of assorted discre-

tionary tasks for “abuse of discretion.” Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U.S.

552, 558 (1988). A murky fourth category of questions are

“mixed”—they include both factual and legal aspects. See Bufkin v.

Collins, 145 S. Ct. 728, 739 (2025). The standard of review applica-

ble to a mixed question depends on whether the question is primar-

ily legal, or primarily factual, id.—more on that to come.

Perhaps less familiar—but no less important—are the stand-

ards applicable to “court/agency” review. These standards govern

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8 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

courts’ review of administrative agency actions, like the Board of

Immigration Appeals’ decision here. There are a host of complex-

ities in the court/agency context generally—some of which we’ll

need to explain briefly—but for the most part, standard-of-review

law applicable in immigration cases, in particular, is well settled.

Here, for instance, are a few things we know for sure: Our

review extends both to the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision

and, to the extent that the Board “expressly adopts or agrees with”

it, to the immigration judge’s decision. A.P.A. v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 104

F.4th 230, 236 (11th Cir. 2024). We review legal conclusions de novo

and (when we have jurisdiction) findings of fact for “substantial ev-

idence.” Kazemzadeh v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 577 F.3d 1341, 1350 (11th Cir.

2009). Nonetheless, as already explained, we lack jurisdiction to

review factual determinations underlying an immigration judge’s

or the Board’s decision to deny an application for cancellation of

removal. Wilkinson, 601 U.S. at 225; 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i),

(a)(2)(D).

This case presents one unknown: Neither we nor the Su-

preme Court have ever settled on the standard of review that ap-

plies to mixed questions raised in petitions for review of the Board’s

decisions. In particular—and as relevant here—we’ve never settled

on the standard that applies to a § 1229b(b)(1)(D) exceptional-and-

extremely-unusual-hardship determination. We do so today. We

proceed in three steps: First, we identify the available options; sec-

ond, we explain our methodology for choosing among them; and

third, we apply that methodology to select the proper standard.

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Spoiler alert: We hold that a determination regarding

§ 1229b(b)(1)(D)’s hardship standard is reviewable for substantial

evidence.

Let us explain.

A

Our first step is to identify the available standards, and to do

so we evaluate both “traditional administrative law principles” and

the Immigration and Nationality Act. Garland v. Ming Dai, 593 U.S.

357, 369 (2021).

The Administrative Procedure Act supplies three possible

standards of review. First, a court reviews legal issues de novo, in-

cluding by applying its “independent judgment” to statutory-inter-

pretation questions. Loper Bright Enters. v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369,

391–92, 412 (2024); see DeKalb Cnty. v. U.S. Dep’t of Lab., 812 F.3d

1015, 1020 (11th Cir. 2016); 5 U.S.C. § 706. Second, the APA pre-

scribes a deferential “arbitrary and capricious” standard to govern

a court’s review of an agency’s decisionmaking process. See 5

U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); cf. Dep’t of Homeland Sec. v. Regents of the Univ. of

Cal., 591 U.S. 1, 16 (2020) (explaining that the APA “requires agen-

cies to engage in ‘reasoned decisionmaking’” (citation omitted)).

Arbitrary-and-capricious review extends both to agency decisions

exercising discretion and to those finding facts. See 2 Kristin E.

Hickman & Richard J. Pierce, Jr., Administrative Law Treatise §§ 10.4,

11.1 (7th ed. 2018 & Supp. 2025); Harry T. Edwards & Anne Deng,

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10 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

Federal Standards of Review 113–14 (2024). 3 The de novo and arbi-

trary-and-capricious standards are generally applicable defaults—

the APA doesn’t limit them to any particular subset of agency de-

cisions. Cf. 5 U.S.C. § 706.

The third APA-based standard of review is “substantial evi-

dence,” which applies to findings of fact. Id. § 706(2)(E). Under the

substantial-evidence standard, a reviewing court asks “[w]hether

on the record as a whole there is substantial evidence to support

[the] agency[’s] findings.” Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S.

474, 491 (1951); see also Allentown Mack Sales & Serv., Inc. v. NLRB,

522 U.S. 359, 380 (1998). Unlike the de novo and arbitrary-and-ca-

pricious standards, the APA itself makes the substantial-evidence

standard applicable in only one type of proceeding—namely, a chal-

lenge to a so-called “formal” agency action. See 5 U.S.C.

§ 706(2)(E). As just noted, the substantial-evidence standard (some-

what confusingly) overlaps with the arbitrary-and-capricious stand-

ard as a means of reviewing agency factfindings. Indeed, most of

the time, “[w]hen the arbitrary or capricious standard is perform-

ing th[e] function of assuring factual support, there is no substantive

difference between what it requires and what would be required by

3 Our cases are rarely as clear as the treatises about the domain of arbitrary-

and-capricious review. But the treatises’ gloss—that arbitrary-and-capricious

review may encompass both exercises of discretion and findings of fact—is

borne out in the real world. See, e.g., Ferreira v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 714 F.3d 1240,

1243 (11th Cir. 2013) (applying arbitrary-and-capricious review to an “exercise

of discretion”); Atlanta Gas Light Co. v. FERC, 140 F.3d 1392, 1397 (11th Cir.

1998) (same, for “findings of fact[]”).

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the substantial evidence test.” Ass’n of Data Processing Serv. Orgs.,

Inc. v. Bd. of Governors of the Fed. Rsrv. Sys. (ADAPSO), 745 F.2d 677,

683–84 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (Scalia, J.). We’ll revisit this overlap—and

try to disentangle the two standards as they apply in immigration

cases—in due course.

The Immigration and Nationality Act supplements the

APA’s default standards of review. As particularly relevant here, it

states that an administrative agency’s “findings of fact are conclu-

sive unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to con-

clude to the contrary,” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B)—which the Su-

preme Court has interpreted to mean, in effect, so long as they are

supported by “substantial evidence.” See Nasrallah v. Barr, 590 U.S.

573, 584 (2020) (stating, in an immigration case, that “[t]he standard

of review is the substantial-evidence standard” and citing 8 U.S.C.

§ 1252(b)(4)(B)).

Under the APA’s default rules, the substantial-evidence

standard wouldn’t apply in a case, like this one, challenging a Board

of Immigration Appeals decision. That’s because, despite their

court-like trappings, immigration proceedings don’t qualify as “for-

mal” adjudications.4 But § 1252(b)(4)(B) fills a gap left by the APA

4 Under the APA, an agency adjudication is “formal” only if it is “determined

on the record after opportunity for an agency hearing.” 5 U.S.C. § 554(a).

Courts have interpreted this provision “narrowly,” 1 Hickman & Pierce, supra,

§ 6.2, and the Supreme Court has held that immigration-court proceedings

aren’t “formal” in the technical, APA sense, see Ardestani v. INS, 502 U.S. 129,

139 (1991).

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12 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

and, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Nasrallah, makes the

substantial-evidence standard applicable in immigration cases.5

So, taking stock: Considered in tandem, the APA and the

Immigration and Nationality Act provide three standard-of-review

contestants: de novo (for legal issues); arbitrary and capricious (for

exercises of discretion and findings of fact); and substantial evi-

dence (for findings of fact). We turn next to the methodology for

choosing among these three standards.

5 Two other familiar standards of review—applicable in what we’ve called the

court/court context—are off the table. First, the “clear error” standard

doesn’t fit, even though the agency decisions at issue here do involve findings

of fact. In Dickinson v. Zurko, the Supreme Court emphasized “the importance

of maintaining a uniform approach to judicial review of administrative action”

and held that APA § 706 supplies “court/agency review standards in the ab-

sence of an exception.” 527 U.S. 150, 154 (1999). Here, no exception applies

to immigration proceedings.

Second, the “abuse of discretion” standard—which the government

raised and then rejected in its supplemental brief, isn’t really a distinct standard

for our purposes. Although familiar in the court/court context, see Edwards

& Deng, supra, at 15, 68–70, in the court/agency context abuse-of-discretion

review is more or less equivalent to arbitrary-and-capricious review, cf., e.g.,

Alkotof v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 106 F.4th 1289, 1297 (11th Cir. 2024) (stating that im-

migration officials abuse their discretion when their actions are “arbitrary or

capricious”); Edwards & Deng, supra, at 204 (observing that courts “rarely

draw any meaningful distinctions” between acts that are “arbitrary” or “capri-

cious” and those that constitute “abuse[s] of discretion” (citation modified)).

As we will explain, the arbitrary-and-capricious standard is “cumulative” of

other APA standards. ADAPSO, 745 F.2d at 683. So at least in principle, an

agency action might—for example—both be unsupported by substantial evi-

dence and be an arbitrary and capricious abuse of discretion. See id. at 683–84.

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B

As already noted, the Supreme Court recently clarified that

§ 1229b(b)(1)(D)’s hardship standard presents a “mixed question”

of law and fact. Wilkinson, 601 U.S. at 222. And helpfully, in a pair

of recent decisions, the Court has sketched out a method for iden-

tifying the proper standard of review for mixed questions, at least

in the court/court context. First, “a reviewing court should try to

break [a mixed] question into its separate factual and legal parts,

reviewing each according to the appropriate legal standard.” Google

LLC v. Oracle Am., Inc., 593 U.S. 1, 24 (2021). Second, for an irreduc-

ibly mixed question—i.e., one whose legal and factual elements

can’t be disaggregated—the standard of review “all depends[] on

whether answering it entails primarily legal or factual work.” Id.

(quoting U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n ex rel. CWCapital Asset Mgmt. LLC v.

Vill. at Lakeridge, LLC, 583 U.S. 387, 396 (2018)). Some mixed ques-

tions “require courts to expound on the law, particularly by ampli-

fying or elaborating on a broad legal standard”—they should be re-

viewed de novo. U.S. Bank, 583 U.S. at 396. Others “immerse courts

in case-specific factual issues”—they should be reviewed “with def-

erence,” which in the court/court context means for clear error.

Id. at 396, 399.

Though not squarely applicable, the Google-U.S. Bank frame-

work is instructive for court/agency review. In fact, the Supreme

Court has already suggested—albeit only in dicta, and cursorily—

that Google-U.S. Bank supplies the appropriate method for choosing

the standard applicable to a court’s review of an agency’s resolution

of a mixed question. In particular, in Guerrero-Lasprilla, the Court

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14 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

quoted U.S. Bank to explain how it has “determin[ed] the proper

standard for appellate review of a district, bankruptcy, or agency de-

cision that applies a legal standard to underlying facts.” 589 U.S. at

228 (emphasis added). And several of our sister circuits have gone

one step further, applying the Google-U.S. Bank framework in im-

migration cases. See Alzaben v. Garland, 66 F.4th 1, 7 (1st Cir. 2023);

Wilkinson v. Att’y Gen. U.S. (Wilkinson II), 131 F.4th 134, 138–40 (3d

Cir. 2025); Williams v. Garland, 59 F.4th 620, 633–34 (4th Cir. 2023),

as amended (Feb. 10, 2023); Singh v. Rosen, 984 F.3d 1142, 1154 (6th

Cir. 2021); Gonzalez-Juarez v. Bondi, 137 F.4th 996, 1000–03 (9th Cir.

2025). We’re convinced and follow suit.

Extending Google-U.S. Bank jot for jot to the court/agency

context does pose one wrinkle that needs to be ironed out: What

to do with arbitrary-and-capricious review? As already explained,

in the court/court context, the mixed-question options are de

novo—either for any discrete legal components or for an irreduci-

bly law-heavy issue—and clear error—either for discrete factual

components or for an irreducibly fact-heavy issue. As we’ve seen,

things on the court/agency side are a bit more complicated—prin-

cipally because there are two standards, not one, that apply to fac-

tual determinations: substantial-evidence and arbitrary-and-capri-

cious. Which of those two should sub in for clear error in the

Google-U.S. Bank analysis?

For several reasons, we hold that, at least in the immigration

context, the substantial-evidence standard—rather than the arbi-

trary-and-capricious standard—is the best fit. First, and most

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obviously, the substantial-evidence and clear-error standards are

quite similar in theory and essentially identical in practice. In Dick-

inson v. Zurko, the Supreme Court called “the difference” between

the standards “a subtle one” and said that (with the exception of

the case before it) it had “failed to uncover a single instance in

which a reviewing court conceded that use of one standard rather

than the other would in fact have produced a different outcome.”

527 U.S. 150, 162–63 (1999). Second, and relatedly, unlike the sub-

stantial-evidence and clear-error standards, the arbitrary-and-capri-

cious standard isn’t really designed for review of factual findings.

Rather, as then-Judge Scalia once explained, “the ‘arbitrary or ca-

pricious’ provision[] is a catchall, picking up administrative miscon-

duct not covered by the other more specific” standards. ADAPSO,

745 F.2d at 683. Here, we have a more specific standard for review

of factual determinations—namely, substantial evidence, because

(as already noted) Congress has extended that standard to immi-

gration proceedings. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B); Nasrallah, 590

U.S. at 584. And third, the arbitrary-and-capricious standard is “cu-

mulative” rather than exclusive of substantial-evidence review, in

any event. ADAPSO, 745 F.2d at 683. So, adopting substantial-evi-

dence review for a mixed question doesn’t necessarily exclude arbi-

trary-and-capricious review. An agency action might be “sup-

ported by the required substantial evidence,” and yet “in another

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16 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

regard” be arbitrary and capricious—“for example, because it is an

abrupt and unexplained departure from agency precedent.” Id. 6

Accordingly, we adapt the Google-U.S. Bank framework for

immigration-proceeding purposes by substituting substantial evi-

dence in the place of clear error.

C

We turn, then, to the application of the (modified) Google-

U.S. Bank methodology here. Under that framework, what stand-

ard of review governs a court’s review of a hardship determination

under § 1229b(b)(1)(D)? The Supreme Court’s decision in Wil-

kinson doesn’t squarely decide the issue, but it does provide three

helpful hints. First, the Board’s (or an immigration judge’s) appli-

cation of the standard presents a “mixed question” of law and fact.

601 U.S. at 222. Second, this mixed question is “primarily factual.”

Id. at 225. And third, because the hardship question is primarily

factual, a court’s review is “deferential.” Id. 7 Pairing Wilkinson’s

6 One more thing: Using the arbitrary-and-capricious standard for mixed ques-

tions would create an anomaly in the deference spectrum. Substantial-evi-

dence and arbitrary-and-capricious review overlap a great deal, see ADAPSO,

745 F.2d at 684, but to the extent that they differ, the Supreme Court has re-

peatedly characterized arbitrary-and-capricious review as being even more

deferential than substantial-evidence review. See 2 Hickman & Pierce, supra,

§ 10.4; e.g., Abbott Lab’ys v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136, 143 (1967). So if we used

arbitrary-and-capricious review for mixed questions, the most deferential

standard would (strangely) occupy the law-fact spectrum’s middle.

7 At oral argument, the petitioners briefly suggested that our review of the

hardship standard should be de novo. But because the Supreme Court said

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hints with Google-U.S. Bank pretty clearly indicates that the applica-

ble standard of review is substantial evidence. That conclusion fol-

lows from two premises.

First, per Google-U.S. Bank, we must, to the extent possible,

separate what might appear to be a mixed question into its legal

and factual components. In Wilkinson, while clearly holding that a

court has jurisdiction to review the Board’s § 1229b(b)(1)(D) hard-

ship determination, the Supreme Court reiterated that “a court is

still without jurisdiction to review a factual question raised in an

application for” cancellation of removal. Id. at 222. So, for exam-

ple, a court lacks jurisdiction to second-guess an immigration

judge’s “underlying factual determination” that an applicant for

cancellation of removal “was credible” or that an applicant’s U.S.-

citizen relative “had a serious medical condition.” Id. A witness’s

credibility and the existence of a medical condition are related to

the hardship issue, but they remain at their core factual determina-

tions rather than irreducibly mixed questions. Accordingly, we

must always take care to winnow factual predicates underpinning

the hardship determination—with respect to which we lack juris-

diction—from the hardship determination itself—over which we

have jurisdiction.

Second, Google-U.S. Bank instructs us to select a standard of

review for an irreducibly mixed question according to whether it is

primarily legal or factual. Wilkinson expressly characterized the

that our review must be “deferential,” Wilkinson, 601 U.S. at 225, one thing

we can be certain of is that de novo review isn’t an option.

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18 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

application of the hardship inquiry as “primarily factual.” Id. at

225. And for reasons already explained, the substantial-evidence

standard applies to factual determinations made in immigration

proceedings. Accordingly, we review for substantial evidence the

question whether the found facts in the administrative record

(which, again, we lack jurisdiction to second-guess) add up to an

“exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” within the meaning

of § 1229b(b)(1)(D). 8

* * *

So, to recap: When considering decisions of the Board of

Immigration Appeals and (where appropriate) immigration judges,

we review legal conclusions de novo and findings of fact for sub-

stantial evidence—keeping in mind that in some contexts, like this

one, we lack jurisdiction to review pure findings of fact. We review

irreducibly mixed questions de novo or for substantial-evidence,

depending on whether legal or factual issues predominate.9 When

the Board (or an immigration judge) “weighs . . . found facts and

applies the ‘exceptional and extremely unusual hardship’ standard,

. . . the result is a mixed question of law and fact,” Wilkinson, 601

8 We’re not alone. On remand from the Supreme Court’s decision in Wil-

kinson, the Third Circuit likewise held, for similar reasons, “that the substan-

tial-evidence standard governs review of a hardship determination in a cancel-

lation-of-removal proceeding.” Wilkinson II, 131 F.4th at 142. And the Ninth

Circuit recently followed suit. Gonzalez-Juarez, 137 F.4th at 1000–03.

9 As always, there remains the background default that immigration authori-

ties’ decisions are subject to arbitrary-and-capricious review. See ADAPSO, 745

F.2d at 683.

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23-10105 Opinion of the Court 19

U.S. at 222, which, because it is “primarily factual,” id. at 225, we

review for substantial evidence.

On, then—at last—to the merits.

III

The Board has settled on a two-part test for hardship-based

cancellation-of-removal applications like Isaac’s and Martha’s.10

“[T]o the extent that a claim is based on the health of a qualifying

relative, an applicant needs to establish [1] that the relative has a

serious medical condition and, [2] if he or she is accompanying the

applicant to the country of removal, that adequate medical care for

the claimed condition is not reasonably available in that country.”

Matter of J-J-G-, 27 I. & N. Dec. 808, 811 (B.I.A. 2020) (footnotes

omitted); see also Matter of Monreal-Aguinaga, 23 I. & N. Dec. 56, 63

(B.I.A. 2001) (en banc) (suggesting that a “strong” cancellation of

removal applicant “might have a qualifying child with very serious

health issues, or compelling special needs in school”); Matter of An-

dazola-Rivas, 23 I. & N. Dec. 319, 323 (B.I.A. 2002) (en banc) (con-

sidering, as part of an education-based hardship application,

whether the qualifying relative “would be deprived of all schooling

or of an opportunity to obtain any education”). We understand

Isaac and Martha to make two different arguments under this test,

and we address each in turn.

10 No party argued that we should apply a different standard in light of Loper

Bright, 603 U.S. at 412, and so we don’t reach that issue here.

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20 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

A

First, Isaac and Martha argue that the level of medical care

(and related educational support) in Mexico is so deficient that if

they are removed, I.L. will suffer an exceptional and extremely un-

usual hardship. In their briefs to us, Isaac and Martha emphasize

the limited availability of healthcare and special education in Mex-

ico. Whether those services are (or aren’t) available in Mexico is a

purely factual issue over which we have no jurisdiction. See Wil-

kinson, 601 U.S. at 222. But the couple concedes that “[t]he facts of

th[is] case are not in dispute,” Br. of Pet’r in No. 23-10105 at 17; Br.

of Pet’r in No. 23-12058 at 17, and so we take them to be arguing,

more broadly, that the undisputed facts add up to an “exceptional

and extremely unusual hardship” within the meaning of

§ 1229b(b)(1)(D). This is an argument about the hardship stand-

ard’s application, over which we have jurisdiction and which, for

reasons explained, we review for substantial evidence. 11

11 At oral argument, and then again in a supplemental-authority letter, the

government argued that the reasonable availability of medical care in a foreign

country is a purely factual question with respect to which we lack jurisdiction.

But we don’t take Isaac and Martha—understood most charitably—to be dis-

puting the precise level of medical or educational resources in Mexico. After

all, they expressly agree that the facts in this case are undisputed. Rather, their

position is that, on these facts, the difficulties I.L. would face satisfy the hardship

standard.

Moreover, “reasonableness” isn’t inevitably a purely factual determi-

nation. Compare, e.g., United States v. E. Air Lines, Inc., 792 F.2d 1560, 1564 (11th

Cir. 1986) (“The question of reasonableness is a mixed question of law and

fact.” (footnote omitted)), with, e.g., Martin v. Occupational Safety & Health Rev.

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23-10105 Opinion of the Court 21

The Board’s hardship determinations were supported by

substantial evidence. The hardship bar is “high”: Conditions satis-

fying it are “substantially beyond that which ordinarily would be

expected to result from the alien’s deportation.” Flores-Alonso v.

U.S. Att’y Gen., 36 F.4th 1095, 1098 (11th Cir. 2022) (quoting Monreal-

Aguinaga, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 59), abrogated on other grounds by Wil-

kinson, 601 U.S. at 217 n.2. Here, the Board observed that I.L. could

likely access substitute ADHD medication, and it reasoned that

while I.L. might have “fewer educational opportunities in Mexico,”

he wouldn’t be entirely “deprived of all schooling.” These conclu-

sions are supported by the record. The immigration judge heard

testimony and reviewed documentation indicating that an educa-

tion and ADHD medicine are available in Mexico. And the judge

appropriately acknowledged contrary evidence, including testi-

mony that—whatever the general availability of medication and

special education in Mexico—accessing those services for I.L. in

particular would be difficult and expensive. While an immigration

judge “must consider all the evidence,” and while the judge here

could have devoted even more attention to considerations that fa-

vored Isaac and Martha, she did “not need to discuss each piece of

Comm’n, 947 F.2d 1483, 1484 (11th Cir. 1991) (“[R]easonable diligence is a ques-

tion of fact, subject to substantial evidence review, and not a mixed question

of law and fact.”). At least in this case, the question whether a particular level

of medical care is “reasonable” is just a different way of phrasing the underly-

ing hardship standard, whose application we unquestionably have jurisdiction

to consider. See Wilkinson, 601 U.S. at 222. Accordingly, insofar as Isaac and

Martha might be understood as disputing reasonableness, we take them to be

disputing the question whether the hardship standard is met.

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22 Opinion of the Court 23-10105

evidence in [her] order.” Lingeswaran v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 969 F.3d 1278

(11th Cir. 2020) (citation modified).

Isaac and Martha haven’t explained why the Board’s conclu-

sion wasn’t “supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative

evidence on the record considered as a whole.” A.P.A., 104 F.4th at

236 (citation modified). They have shown no obvious disconnect

between the Board’s conclusions and the contents of the adminis-

trative record. It is of course possible that alternative inferences

might have been drawn from the record that would have been

more favorable to Isaac and Martha. And we recognize that remov-

ing the couple may very well cause I.L. some—even much—hard-

ship. But § 1229b(b)(1)(D)’s hardship standard is “high,” Monreal-

Aguinaga, 23 I. & N. Dec. at 60, and substantial-evidence review is

deferential. We can’t “reweigh the evidence from scratch.” Muru-

gan v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 10 F.4th 1185, 1194 (11th Cir. 2021) (citation

modified). In light of these considerations, we conclude that the

Board didn’t err.

B

Second and separately, Isaac and Martha contend that the

Board misapplied its own decision in J-G-G- by requiring them to

show that the services I.L. needs aren’t available at all in Mexico,

rather than that they aren’t “reasonably available.” Their argument

that the Board failed to “appl[y] the correct legal standard” is a

question of law that we review de novo. Farah v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 12

F.4th 1312, 1325 (11th Cir. 2021). It’s true that the Board occasion-

ally used the term “unavailable.” But it also accurately quoted

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23-10105 Opinion of the Court 23

J-J-G-’s “reasonably available” standard, and the substance of the

Board’s analysis is consistent with that measure. As just noted, the

Board explained that an alternative medication was available in

Mexico and that I.L. could still obtain an education there. In other

words, the Board’s analysis wasn’t just that some kind of care was

available—instead, it concluded that I.L.’s particular needs could

likely be satisfied. We are therefore persuaded that the Board ap-

plied the right standard, even if its word choices were at times im-

precise.

* * *

Accordingly, we find no fault in the Board’s decisions—ei-

ther in its application of the hardship standard or its use of the

J-J-G- test.

IV

In sum, we hold that a court should review the Board’s

§ 1229b(b)(1)(D) hardship determination for substantial evidence.

And, applying that standard to the Board’s decisions affirming the

immigration judge’s denials of Isaac and Martha’s applications for

cancellation of removal, we hold that the Board’s decisions were

supported by substantial evidence. We accordingly DENY the pe-

titions for review.