Elisa Lopez-Vasquez v. Pamela Bondi

── Elisa Lopez-Vasquez v. Pamela Bondi ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Date: May 29, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 25-1338 ___________________________ Elisa Lopez-Vasquez Petitioner v. Todd Blanche, Acting Attorney General of the United States 1 Respondent ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: March 16, 2026 Filed: May 29, 2026 ____________ Before COLLOTON, Chief Judge, GRUENDER and KOBES, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRUENDER, Circuit Judge. Elisa Lopez-Vasquez entered the United States illegally in 2004 and took up residence in Carthage, Missouri. Twenty years later, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) initiated removal proceedings against her before an immigration 1 Todd Blanche is automatically substituted as respondent in place of Pamela Bondi pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2). judge (“IJ”). Lopez-Vasquez did not contest her removability but applied for cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1) and for permission to depart the United States voluntarily under 8 U.S.C. § 1229c(b). After a hearing, the IJ issued a written order denying both applications and entered a removal order. In January 2025, the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirmed the IJ’s rulings. Shortly thereafter, Lopez-Vasquez filed a petition asking us to vacate the removal order on due process and statutory grounds and to remand to the BIA with instructions either to cancel her removal or to reconsider her applications. Finding no basis for such relief, we deny Lopez-Vasquez’s petition. I. Background Lopez-Vasquez is a native and citizen of Guatemala who resided illegally in Carthage, Missouri for roughly twenty years. She is the mother of six U.S. citizen children whose ages range from two to twenty years old. In 2021, she married a citizen of Guatemala who has no legal status in the United States and began living with him in Carthage alongside her children. He is the biological father of her youngest child. Lopez-Vasquez has never held formal employment in the United States but has served as a homemaker and caretaker of her children. On August 1, 2024, DHS issued Lopez-Vasquez a Notice to Appear on the charge of being an alien present in the United States without admission or parole. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). On September 3, 2024, Lopez-Vasquez attended a hearing before an IJ in Kansas City, Missouri and, through counsel, conceded her removability and designated Guatemala as the country for removal. She then applied for cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1). On September 20, 2024, the IJ held a hearing at which Lopez-Vasquez, her husband, and her then-seventeen- year-old daughter testified in support of her application. Lopez-Vasquez also submitted letters to the IJ from family members, neighbors, and faith leaders speaking to her character, role as a mother, and community involvement. At the hearing, Lopez-Vasquez confirmed that her children would remain in the United States if she was removed to Guatemala. In the event the IJ denied her cancellation -2- application, Lopez-Vasquez also requested that the IJ allow her to depart the United States voluntarily under 8 U.S.C. § 1229c(b). After considering the testimony and “every exhibit” in the evidentiary record, the IJ denied Lopez-Vasquez’s application for cancellation of re