Ramirez-Landeros

MEMORANDUM **

Maria Dolores Ramirez-Landeros petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of her application for cancellation of removal and adjustment of status. We hold that the Board’s application of its precedent governing cancellation of removal to her case violated her constitutional right to equal protection. Accordingly, we grant her petition.

I. Factual Background

Ramirez-Landeros, a Mexican national, has resided in the United States since October, 1989. She has two children, both born in the United States, and her husband recently became a permanent resident. Her teenage son Eric suffers from total blindness and various other disabilities requiring continuous therapeutic intervention. Although Eric is able to obtain state-of-the-art care in the United States, the treatment he needs is scarce or unavailable in Mexico. For several years, Ramirez-Landeros has volunteered her time on behalf of organizations caring for blind and disabled children like her son.

Following a brief trip to Mexico to visit her ailing father, Ramirez-Landeros was intercepted at the border on August 25, 2000, placed in expedited removal proceedings, and ordered removed under…