The Sixth Circuit has dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a petition for review from a Honduran national whose 2017 removal order was reinstated in 2023 and who challenged only an Immigration Judge's order affirming an asylum officer's negative reasonable-fear determination. The court held that its jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 extends only to final orders of removal and matters raised with them, and that orders denying withholding of removal or CAT protection do not affect the validity of a removal order, so they are not final orders and do not merge into one. Relying on Nasrallah v. Barr, Johnson v. Guzman Chavez, and Riley v. Bondi, the court also held that reinstatement does not create a new reviewable order and that § 1252(a)(4) identifies the vehicle for CAT review without independently conferring jurisdiction.
The full text of Castro-Fuentes v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/26a0289p-06.pdf