Golkar v. Mukasey
Golkar v. Mukasey
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Ahmadreza Golkar, a native and citizen of Iran, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal and protection under Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture.
The Government defends the adverse credibility finding on the basis of the IJ’s determination that Golkar “didn’t explain his inability to know basic facts regarding the Christian faith.” But this finding is also not grounded in substantial record evidence under our case law. Golkar’s sworn testimony at the hearing offered a coherent, detailed and consistent account of his gradual attraction to Christianity, his personal conversion experience, and his baptism at a Tehran church. The IJ’s decision did not call into question, or even mention, this testimony. Rather, the IJ based his adverse credibility finding solely on inconsistent statements contained in the Assessment to Refer.
“[U]nder these circumstances, the Assessment To Refer, standing alone, is not substantial record evidence” to undermine
Because the adverse credibility finding was not supported by substantial evidence, we grant the petition for review. We vacate the decision of the BIA and remand with instructions that the BIA accept Golkar’s testimony as credible and on that basis determine whether Golkar is entitled to withholding of removal and/or protection under Article 8 of the Convention Against Torture and whether asylum is to be granted as an exercise of discretion.
PETITION GRANTED; REMANDED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
. We have jurisdiction to review final BIA orders under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a). Because the BIA adopted the IJ’s decision in full and cited Matter of Burbano, 20 I. & N. Dec. 872 (BIA 1994), "we review the IJ’s decision as if it were the BIA's." Moreno-Morante v. Gonzales, 490 F.3d 1172, 1174 (9th Cir. 2007).
. The Assessment to Refer is a document prepared by an asylum officer who "meets informally with the applicant, considers the documents presented with the asylum application, then decides whether asylum should be granted or whether the matter should be referred to an IJ for formal adjudication.” Singh v. Gonzales, 403 F.3d 1081, 1087 (9th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks omitted).
. Because the Assessment to Refer is thus unreliable for impeachment under Singh, we need not address whether any or all of the asylum officer’s questions (e.g., the chapter and verse in the Bible where the Lord’s Prayer appears; how many chapters are in the Bible; the content of Psalm 23) constituted "an impermissible governmental inquiry into religious dogma and practice.” Mejia-Paiz v. INS, 111 F.3d 720, 727-29 (9th Cir. 1997) (Ferguson, J., dissenting).
. The Government argues that Golkar should have corroborated his account of his conversion, but absent a legitimate reason to doubt Golkar’s "direct and specific” testimony about his conversion, corroborating evidence is not required. Kaur, 379 F.3d at 889-90.
Dissenting Opinion
I respectfully dissent. In my view, we are not compelled to find that the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) adverse credibility determination was erroneous. See Mansour v. Ashcroft, 390 F.3d 667, 671 (9th Cir. 2004) (holding that contrary determination must be compelled to reverse the IJ).
If even one of the bases supporting the adverse credibility determination is supported by substantial evidence, the petition for review must be denied. See Li v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 959, 964 (9th Cir. 2004).
In this case, the one basis supporting the adverse credibility determination is Ahmadrez Golkar’s lack of knowledge regarding baptism, a basic Christian foundational ritual that he professed to have undergone. The majority disposition grants the petition primarily because of its conelusion that the Assessment To Refer in this case was unreliable. However, unlike the Assessment To Refer discussed in Singh v. Gonzales, 403 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2005), the record does not reflect that the Assessment To Refer in this case suffered from the same deficiencies as noted in Singh. See e.g. Singh, 403 F.3d at 1088-89 (noting the apparent lack of a translator).
Because the adverse credibility determination was supported by substantial evidence, I would deny the petition.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ahmadreza GOLKAR v. Michael B. MUKASEY, Attorney General
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published