Case Explained: Summary Calendar Johanna Briseyda Vasquez Bonilla v. Todd Wallace Blanche, Acting U.S. Attorney General

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Filed: 2026-06-29 The fifth-circuit dismissed the petition for review in part for lack of jurisdiction and denied it in part regarding Johanna Briseyda Vasquez Bonilla’s motion to reopen her removal proceedings. The court applied a highly deferential abuse-of-discretion standard to the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision. Regarding the claim that she lacked notice of her in absentia hearing, the court held the argument was waived because the petitioner failed to brief it, citing *Yohey v. Collins*. On the claim involving changed country conditions in El Salvador, the court declined to consider evidence outside the administrative record pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(A) and found the petitioner failed to demonstrate a material change in conditions as required by *Garcia v. Garland* and *Nunez v. Sessions*. Furthermore, the court ruled it lacked jurisdiction to review the BIA’s denial of sua sponte regulatory reopening due to its entirely discretionary nature under *Garcia-Gonzalez v. Garland*. As a result, the petition was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction regarding the sua sponte claim and denied on the merits for the other claims. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.