Abdi v. Gonzales
Abdi v. Gonzales
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Ahmed Karim Abdi, a native and citizen of Somalia, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252. Reviewing for substantial evidence, see Bandari v. INS, 227 F.3d 1160, 1165 (9th Cir. 2000), we grant the petition for review, and remand for further proceedings.
The record compels reversal of the BIA’s adverse credibility determination. The BIA relied in part on inconsistencies between Abdi’s testimony and the report of the asylum officer who interviewed Abdi.
The remaining inconsistencies identified by the BIA, to the extent they exist, are minor discrepancies that reveal nothing about Abdi’s fear for his safety. See Bandari, 27 F.3d at 1166-67.
We therefore remand for a determination in the first instance whether, taking Abdi’s testimony as true, he has established eligibility for asylum and withholding of removal. See Arulampalam v. Ashcroft, 353 F.3d 679, 689 (9th Cir. 2003). Although we note that the BIA acknowledged that
the Barawans, as a group in general, have been singled out for harassment and those living in the old quarter of Mogadishu have been driven out of the country. United States Department of State, Somalia: Profile of Asylum*719 Claims and Country Conditions, released by Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, at 11 (1996). The evidence demonstrates that there have been reports of a consistent pattern of looting, rapes and intimidation by the succession of militias against the Bara-wans. Id. at 12[,]
we remand the withholding claim as well as the asylum claim, in light of INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16-17, 123 S.Ct. 353, 154 L.Ed.2d 272 (2002). See Knezevic v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 1206, 1213 (9th Cir. 2004) (reiterating that “persecution of an entire group can render proof of individual targeting entirely superfluous”) (quoting Kotasz v. INS, 31 F.3d 847, 852 (9th Cir. 1994)); see also El Himri v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 932, 936 (9th Cir. 2004).
PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED; REMANDED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
. Abdi has exhausted his challenge to the use of the asylum officer’s report as a basis for the adverse credibility finding by raising that issue before the BIA. However, to the extent Abdi argues that the BIA or the IJ, in relying upon the report, denied him the right to confront the witnesses against him, or otherwise violated his procedural due process rights, he has failed to exhaust any such claims, and we have no jurisdiction to consider them. See Barron v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 674, 678 (9th Cir. 2004).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.