United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 17-2208 ___________________________ Barite Koshe Burka lllllllllllllllllllllPetitioner v. Jefferson B. Sessions, III, Attorney General of the United States lllllllllllllllllllllRespondent ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: June 15, 2018 Filed: August 14, 2018 ____________ Before KELLY, ARNOLD, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________ STRAS, Circuit Judge. Barite Koshe Burka challenges the denial of her untimely application for asylum. Because we lack jurisdiction to review the BIA’s determination that Burka did not establish an excuse for her late filing based on changed circumstances, we dismiss her petition for review. I. Burka is a sixty-three-year-old woman who fears persecution by the Ethiopian government because of her involvement in a local women’s group and her husband’s status as a political dissident. She arrived in the United States on a temporary visa in 2008, but her husband remained in Ethiopia, where he spent much of his time in hiding. Burka eventually lost all contact with him. In 2012, the Department of Homeland Security issued Burka a Notice to Appear in removal proceedings. After conceding removability, Burka applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. The government asked the immigration judge to deny asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(2)(B), which required Burka to file her application “within 1 year after [she] arriv[ed] in the United States,” a deadline she indisputably missed. Burka responded that her husband’s disappearance excused her late filing because it was a “changed circumstance[] which materially affect[ed her] eligibility for asylum.” See id. § 1158(a)(2)(D). The immigration judge denied Burka’s asylum application under the one-year statute of limitations but granted withholding of removal. In denying asylum, the immigration judge reasoned that “[Burka], her brother, and her husband had all been detained and harmed by the government in the past” and that her husband “was already trying to hide from the government when [she] left Ethiopia. Thus, [Burka] did not have new fears that might constitute a change in circumstances, but rather her existing fears worsened.” The immigration judge then concluded, “[t]herefore, these fears do not constitute a change in [Burka’s] circumstance[s] that would legally excuse her filing delay.” -2- In dismissing Burka’s appeal, the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “BIA”) relied on the immigration judge’s findings that Burka had “experienced past persecution in Ethiopia, her husband and brother were also harmed, and she was not prevented from filing an asylum application within 1 year of her entry into the United States.” We review the BIA’s decision as the relevant final agency action, but because “the BIA adopted the findings [and] reasoning of the [immigration judge], we also review the [immigration judge’s] decision.” Matul-Hernandez v. Holder, 685 F.3d 707, 710–11 (8th Cir. 2012) (citation omitted). II. This case is about our appellate jurisdiction over asylum cases. The Immigration and Nationality Act provides that “[n]o court shall have jurisdiction to review any determination of the Attorney General under paragraph (2),” which contains, ...
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