Gustavo Adolfo Osabas-Rivera v. Pamela Bondi -Board of Immigration Appeals

Circuit 6Dec 8, 2025

Split Score

SplitScore: 78/100

Case Summary

Disposition

Dismissed

The Sixth Circuit dismissed in part and denied in part Gustavo Osabas-Rivera’s petition for review. It held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the Board of Immigration Appeals’ discretionary finding that no “extraordinary circumstances” excused his untimely asylum application, and further concluded that he forfeited a dispositive element of his withholding-of-removal claim by not challenging the IJ’s finding that the Honduran government was unwilling or unable to protect him.

View Full Opinion Document (PDF)

Circuit Split Identified

Legal Issue

Whether federal courts of appeals may review the BIA’s determination that an asylum applicant failed to show “extraordinary circumstances” under 8 U.S.C. §1158(a)(2)(D) that would excuse an untimely asylum application.

Circuit Positions

Circuit 1Circuit 3Circuit 6(this circuit)Circuit 7Circuit 8Circuit 10Circuit 11

Extraordinary-circumstances determination is discretionary and NOT reviewable by the courts.

Circuit 9

Extraordinary-circumstances determination presents a reviewable mixed question of law and fact; courts have jurisdiction.

Conflict Summary

Most circuits, including the Sixth, treat the extraordinary-circumstances determination as a discretionary decision entrusted ‘to the satisfaction of the Attorney General’ and therefore unreviewable under §1158(a)(3). The Ninth Circuit, by contrast, holds that after Guerrero-Lasprilla courts retain jurisdiction because the question is a mixed question of law and fact reviewable under §1252(a)(2)(D).

Parties & Counsel

Parties

Appellant:Gustavo Adolfo Osabas-Rivera
Appellee:Pamela Bondi, Attorney General

Legal Counsel

Appellant:Margaret W. Wong, Margaret Wong & Associates LLC
Appellee:Jonathan S. Needle, United States Department of Justice