Petitioner Maureen Elizabeth Barnaby-King (“Barnaby-King” or “petitioner”), a native and citizen of Jamaica, asks our court to review a March 22, 2006 order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) which affirmed — but based on its own independent review of the record, and while assuming that Barnaby-King and her husband testified truthfully — the judgment of Immigration Judge (“IJ”) Philip Montante, Jr., No. A-77-900-136 (Oct. 25, 2004). Specifically, the BIA concluded that petitioner had failed to prove the statutory threshold of “extreme hardship” to a qualifying relative under § 212® of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), codified, at 8 U.S.C. § 1182®. Because it was, in light of this failure alone, that the BIA denied the petitioner’s application for adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255®, the BIA expressly refused to consider the propriety (1) of the IJ’s decision to decline to grant a § 212® waiver also as a matter of discretion, and (2) of the IJ’s decision denying the petitioner’s request for a continuance, which Barnaby-King requested so that she could present documents both corroborating her and her husband’s testimony and going to her own good moral character. For the same reasons, the BIA declined to adopt the IJ’s adverse credibility finding.
DISCUSSION
In her petition to this court, Barnaby-King’s principal argument is that the IJ erred in denying her § 212® waiver and adjustment of status applications by applying an “erroneous standard of law.” She also argues that the IJ deprived her of due process and abused his discretion by denying her motion for a continuance. And finally, Barnaby-King argues that the IJ’s adverse credibility finding was in error. At no point, however, does Barnaby-King argue that the BIA’s reasoning was also *686 flawed and, moreover, she cannot be said to have done so inadvertently, because the BIA’s separate opinion does not appear to have repeated any of the IJ’s alleged mistakes.
In response to Barnaby-King’s petition, the government argues that the BIA properly decided that Barnaby-King was not statutorily entitled to a waiver of inadmissibility and that, in any event, the BIA’s decision on this point is not subject to appellate review in light of
Jun Min Zhang v. Gonzales,
I. Zhang might no longer be controlling precedent
At the outset, we note that — contrary to the government’s assertion — we might not be precluded by
Zhang
from considering whether we have jurisdiction to review the BIA’s “extreme hardship” determination. The panel in
Zhang
did hold that “a finding of ‘extreme hardship’ under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(i) is a discretionary judgment committed to the BIA ... and that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) precludes us from reviewing such a judgment.”
Zhang,
The opinion in
Xiao Ji Chen I,
however, has recently been significantly revised.
See Xiao Ji Chen,
*687 In light of all this, whether Zhang remains controlling precedent is an open question, and we are therefore presented in this case with what now possibly could, but might not, be an issue of first impression: whether we may properly exercise jurisdiction to review an “extreme hardship” determination where, as here, the BIA rested its decision solely on its view that a petitioner is “statutorily ineligible” for a § 212(i) waiver.
II. Barnaby-King failed to challenge the BIA’s decision
We need not, and so do not, decide whether we are bound by
Zhang
in this case, however, because Barnaby-King has failed to challenge the BIA’s — as opposed to the IJ’s — decision. The BIA did not adopt the IJ’s reasoning, but instead— after observing that the IJ’s opinion was “not a model of clarity” — conducted its own review of the record evidence and concluded that Barnaby-King failed to satisfy the statutory threshold of “extreme hardship.” The BIA therefore did not address the IJ’s further conclusion that the § 212(i) waiver should
also
be denied as a matter of discretion. In the circumstances of this case, it is the BIA’s decision alone that counts for purposes of judicial review.
See Yan Chen v. Gonzales,
Since the BIA assumed that Barnaby-King and her husband testified truthfully, and expressly denied the § 212(i) waiver on the basis of statutory eligibility alone, petitioner’s arguments about the IJ’s denial of a continuance and the adverse credibility finding cannot constitute reasons to grant the petition for review.
CONCLUSION
We have considered the petitioner’s remaining arguments and find them to be without merit. The petition for review is Denied, and the pending motion for a stay of removal in this petition is Denied as moot.
