Fifth Circuit Affirms Denial of Cancellation and VAWA Special Cancellation Based on Unreviewable Factual Findings

The Fifth Circuit has denied a petition for review filed by a Nigerian man seeking both ordinary cancellation of removal based on his current wife's medical conditions and special VAWA cancellation based on abuse by a prior wife, holding that the agency's hardship and battery-or-extreme-cruelty determinations were supported by substantial evidence.

Joining several sister circuits, the Court adopted a substantial-evidence standard for reviewing both the exceptional-and-extremely-unusual-hardship determination under ordinary cancellation and the battery-or-cruelty and hardship determinations under special VAWA cancellation, following the Supreme Court's reasoning in Urias-Orellana v. Bondi. Applying that standard, the Court held the record did not compel a finding that the petitioner's current wife would face hardship beyond what is ordinarily expected from removal, and that his prior wife's mistreatment, including name-calling, minor burns, and threats to report him to immigration authorities, did not rise to the level of battery or extreme cruelty required by the statute.

The full text of Okene v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60559-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Denies CAT Relief and Clarifies Jurisdiction to Review Continuance Denials

The Fifth Circuit has denied a petition for review filed by a Salvadoran man whose CAT claim was rejected after three rounds of agency proceedings due to persistent credibility problems, while separately clarifying the circuit's jurisdiction to review an immigration judge's denial of a continuance to submit late evidence.

The Court held that none of the INA's jurisdiction-stripping provisions bar review of continuance denials in CAT cases, and that the agency did not abuse its discretion here given the petitioner's ample earlier opportunities to submit evidence. On the merits, the Court held substantial evidence supported the adverse credibility finding given significant inconsistencies about the core events underlying his torture claim, and that generalized country-conditions evidence about gang violence in El Salvador could not compel a contrary finding of likely torture.

The full text of Lopez-Barrera v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60302-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Holds Knowing Use of a Passport Invalidated by Changed Circumstances Is a CIMT

The Fifth Circuit has denied a petition for review filed by a Nigerian lawful permanent resident found inadmissible for a prior conviction for using a forged passport, holding that knowing use of a false or invalidated passport is categorically a crime involving moral turpitude.

No longer deferring to the BIA under Loper Bright, the Court independently held that using a document known to be false, or a once-valid passport known to have become void, involves the kind of fraud or deceit against the issuing government that has long defined moral turpitude, regardless of whether the specific conduct involved forgery or merely continued use of an invalidated document.

The full text of Ademola v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60475-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Holds Illegal Firearms Export Conviction Falls Under Security-Related Removability Ground

The Fifth Circuit has denied a petition for review filed by a Haitian lawful permanent resident convicted of smuggling fifty firearms to Haiti concealed in vehicles, rejecting his argument that the security-related removability ground for violating export laws should be read narrowly to require an actual national security or public safety threat.

The Court held that the plain text of 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(A)(i), covering any activity violating a law prohibiting the export of goods, is satisfied by the petitioner's federal conviction for unlicensed firearms exportation regardless of whether the specific shipment endangered national security, rejecting his noscitur a sociis argument as subordinate to the statute's plain text. A dissenting judge argued the majority's reading would extend to trivial regulatory violations like exporting a bag of chips and urged that the provision be read, in context, to require an actual public-safety or national-security nexus.

The full text of Olibris v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60322-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit En Banc Dismisses Alien Enemies Act Challenge as Moot After Named Petitioners Removed

Sitting en banc on remand from the Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit has dismissed as moot the appeal of three Venezuelan nationals challenging their potential removal under the President's Alien Enemies Act proclamation targeting Tren de Aragua, after learning at oral argument that the government had already removed all three petitioners under ordinary immigration law rather than the Act.

The Court held that because no class was ever certified and no named petitioner remains in the country, there is no one to whom the court could grant effective relief, and it declined to add new class representatives on appeal. Concurring opinions would have gone further and ruled for the government on the merits, reasoning that courts must defer to the President's determination that an invasion is underway and that the notice provided to detainees satisfies due process.

The full text of W.M.M. v. Trump can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-10534-CV4.pdf

Fifth Circuit Vacates Adverse Credibility Finding Based on Mistranslated Afghan Calendar Dates

The Fifth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a former Afghan government security officer who fled after the Taliban issued arrest warrants citing his work for two assassinated vice presidents, holding that the agency's adverse credibility finding rested on inconsistencies that were not actually inconsistencies at all.

The Court held that apparent discrepancies in the petitioner's employment dates were the product of an interpreter's failure to convert dates from the Afghan calendar and a mistaken premise about what he told officials during his credible fear interview, findings no reasonable factfinder could have rejected. The Court also held the agency failed to meaningfully consider photographic and documentary evidence corroborating his government service and remanded for the agency to reassess credibility without relying on the discredited inconsistencies.

The full text of Eqbal v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60504-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Vacates Adverse Credibility Finding Based on Mistranslated Afghan Calendar Dates

The Fifth Circuit has granted a petition for review filed by a former Afghan government security officer who fled after the Taliban issued arrest warrants citing his work for two assassinated vice presidents, holding that the agency's adverse credibility finding rested on inconsistencies that were not actually inconsistencies at all.

The Court held that apparent discrepancies in the petitioner's employment dates were the product of an interpreter's failure to convert dates from the Afghan calendar and a mistaken premise about what he told officials during his credible fear interview, findings no reasonable factfinder could have rejected. The Court also held the agency failed to meaningfully consider photographic and documentary evidence corroborating his government service and remanded for the agency to reassess credibility without relying on the discredited inconsistencies.

The full text of Eqbal v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60504-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Affirms Habeas Relief for Long-Term Residents Held Without Bond Under Section 1225

The Fifth Circuit has affirmed habeas relief for three long-term undocumented residents of Texas, each detained without a bond hearing after the government reinterpreted 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) to mandate detention for unadmitted noncitizens found anywhere in the country's interior, not just at the border. None of the three men had a criminal history or removal order, and each has U.S. citizen children.

The Court held that even under this new statutory interpretation, the Due Process Clause requires the government to provide a bond hearing within ninety days of detention, since Congress made no individualized or categorical findings that noncitizens like the petitioners pose a danger or flight risk sufficient to justify mandatory, bondless detention.

The full text of Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/26/26-50219-CV0.pdf

Eight days later, the Fifth Circuit granted en banc rehearing in the matter, vacating the three-judge panel’s decision: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/26/26-50219-CV1.pdf

Fifth Circuit Finds Citizenship Claim Time-Barred After Earlier Passport Denial

The Fifth Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a citizenship action brought by a man who claimed that he was born in Laredo, Texas. The Department of State had repeatedly denied his passport applications based on concerns about his birth records, including a suspicious birth attendant and a conflicting Mexican birth certificate.

The Court held that the plaintiff’s claim under 8 USC 1503(a) was time-barred because the five-year limitations period began with the first final passport denial, not with later reapplications. The Court also held that the APA and mandamus claims were barred because section 1503(a) provided the exclusive adequate remedy, and affirmed dismissal of the constitutional claims.

The full text of Cortez v. Rubio can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-20339-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Finds Father-in-Law's Arrest Was Not a Changed Country Condition

The Fifth Circuit has determined that a Salvadoran respondent's untimely motion to reopen did not qualify for the changed country conditions exception. The respondent argued that he faced increased danger in El Salvador after his father-in-law, an alleged former MS-13 official, was arrested and extradited to the United States, causing MS-13 to believe that the father-in-law had cooperated with the FBI.

The Court found that the father-in-law's arrest and extradition were changes in the respondent's personal circumstances, not changed country conditions in El Salvador. Although the respondent may now face greater danger, the danger flowed from a family-specific development, rather than from a material nationwide change in conditions. The Court also rejected the respondent's request for equitable tolling, finding that he did not establish that former counsel's alleged ineffectiveness prevented him from timely filing the motion to reopen.

The full text of Prado-Majano v. Blanche can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60040-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Rejects Argument that Louisiana Armed Robbery Statute is not a Crime of Violence

The Fifth Circuit has rejected an argument that a Louisiana conviction for armed robbery is not a crime of violence because it can be committed recklessly.

The full text of United States v. Lanaute can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-30266-CR0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Determines that all Non-citizens who Enter US without Inspection are Subject to Mandatory Detention

The Fifth Circuit has determined that all non-citizens who enter the United States without inspection are subject to mandatory detention under 8 USC 1225.

The full text of Buenrostro- Mendez v. Bondi can be found here:

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-20496-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Affirms Agency's Determination that Harsh Prison Conditions in El Salvador are not Torture

The Fifth Circuit has affirmed the agency’s determination that harsh prison conditions in El Salvador do not constitute torture. Some of the agency’s conclusions include:

-evidence is not sufficient to show that the dismal and harmful conditions of detention are specifically intended to torture

- pursuant to El Salvador’s State of Exception, Fuentes-Pineda would likely be detained and imprisoned upon his arrival

-the IJ was “unable to speculate” that deaths in Salvadoran prisons were “the result of extreme cruel and inhuman treatment rather than other causes such as substandard conditions of prison”

-evidence that the government is attempting to obfuscate the number of deaths does not necessarily indicate these deaths were specifically intended, rather than the result of of negligence caused by the overcrowded conditions

-advertising the poor conditions as a deterrent to criminal conduct is not inconsistent with attempts to improve those conditions as they currently exist

The full text of Fuentes-Pineda v. Bondi can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-60592-CV0.pdf

An amended opinion - which the BIA determines that El Salvador’s harsh prison conditions are not specifically intended by the government to inflict torture. And although Salvadoran police officers previously tortured Fuentes-Pineda on two occasions, the BIA justifiably determined his future risk of torture is only speculative - can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-60592-CV1.pdf

Fifth Circuit Finds that Affirmative Asylum Denial is not Final Agency Action

The Fifth Circuit has determined that asylum applicants protected by Temporary Protected Status cannot sue over the denial of their affirmative asylum applications because the denials are not final agency actions.

The full text of Sayegh de Kewayfati v. Bondi can be found here:

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-20073-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Permits Admission of Uncertified Criminal Records, Finds Texas Conviction for Indecency with a Child to be Deportable Offense

The Fifth Circuit has concluded that the certification requirements in 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(3)(C) are not mandatory and has also determined that a Texas Conviction for indecency with a child - sexual contact is a crime of child abuse.

The full text of Campuzano v. Bondi can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-60575-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Dismisses Untimely PFR

The Fifth Circuit dismissed an untimely petition for review finding that the government did not waive the claims processing rule violation because it filed a motion to dismiss one week after the petition was filed.

The full text of Liao v. Bondi can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60427-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Finds that NM Conviction for Child Endangerment is a Deportable Offense

The Fifth Circuit has determined that a New Mexico conviction for child endangerment is a crime of child abuse, rejecting the petitioner’s argument that the statute encompasses permitting a child to be briefly exposed to inclement weather.

The full text of Silva de Santiago v. Bondi can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60064-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Finds that Conviction for Influencing a Federal Official by Threatening Assault is Crime of Violence

The Fifth Circuit has determined that a federal conviction for influencing a federal official by threatening assault is a crime of violence because it involves threats of physical force.

The full text of McLean v. Bondi can be found here: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-61098-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Measures Diligence from When Non-citizen Learned of Post-Conviction Relief

The Fifth Circuit, in evaluating whether a non-citizen exercised due diligence in moving to reopen his proceedings, has indicated the importance of the date he learned of the availability of post-conviction relief. The Court rejected the argument that diligence should be measured from when the post-conviction order was granted.

The full text of Arevalo v. Bondi can be found here:

www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-60349-CV0.pdf

Fifth Circuit Permits Reliance on Forfeiture Order to Establish Amount of Money Laundered

The Fifth Circuit has determined that the agency may rely on an uncontested forfeiture order to determine how much money was involved in a money laundering offense. “[W]e hold that an unrebutted forfeiture order entered solely against an alien that finds a specific amount of laundered funds attributable to the alien’s conduct of conviction can constitute clear and convincing evidence of the amount of funds required to be proven during a § 1101(a)(43)(D) circumstance-specific inquiry.”

The full text of Dominguez Reyes v. Bondi can be found here:

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/25/25-60016-CV0.pdf