NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

HAKOB CHILINGARYAN, AKA Hakob 

Arshalouysi Chilingaryan, 

Petitioner, 

 v. 

WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, 

Respondent.

No. 17-71726 

Agency No. A075-758-457 

MEMORANDUM*

HAKOB CHILINGARYAN, AKA Edgar 

Babaian, 

Petitioner, 

 v. 

WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General, 

Respondent.

No. 18-70227 

Agency No. A075-758-457 

On Petition for Review of an Order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

Submitted April 3, 2020**

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent 

except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision 

without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

FILED

APR 14 2020

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
2 

Pasadena, California

Before: WARDLAW, MURGUIA, and MILLER, Circuit Judges.

Hakob Chilingaryan, a native and citizen of Armenia, petitions for review of 

the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (the “Board’s”) May 15, 2017 ruling that he 

filed a frivolous asylum application and the Board’s January 17, 2018 order 

denying his motion to reopen and remand. We review for substantial evidence the 

agency’s factual findings and review de novo questions of law. Kulakchyan v. 

Holder, 730 F.3d 993, 995 (9th Cir. 2013). Where, as here, the Board cites Matter 

of Burbano, 20 I. & N. Dec. 872 (BIA 1994), and provides its own review of the 

evidence and the law, we review both the Immigration Judge’s (the “IJ’s”) and the 

Board’s decision. See Ali v. Holder, 637 F.3d 1025, 1028–29 (9th Cir. 2011). We 

have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and deny the petitions.

1. Chilingaryan conceded that he knowingly filed a false claim for 

asylum, and substantial evidence supports the agency’s determination that 

Chilingaryan received adequate notice of the consequences of filing a frivolous 

application and thus knowingly filed a frivolous application for asylum. See 8 

U.S.C. § 1158(d)(4)(A), (6). The record shows that in April 2006 Chilingaryan 

signed his asylum application directly beneath a warning which advises that 

“[a]pplicants determined to have knowingly made a frivolous application for 

asylum will be permanently ineligible for any benefits under the Immigration and 
3 

Nationality Act”; the preparer of Chilingaryan’s application certified that the 

application was read to Chilingaryan in “his . . . native language or a language he

. . . understands”; at his November 2009 asylum interview, Chilingaryan signed the 

“Record of Applicant and Interpreter Oaths During an Interview,” swearing that he 

was advised of the consequences of filing a frivolous application by his interview 

interpreter; his interview interpreter signed the same document certifying that he 

was qualified to act as an interpreter, had read the document to Chilingaryan, and 

that Chilingaryan stated he understood him; and at his May 2016 removal hearing 

Chilingaryan admitted both that he signed the “Record of Applicant” document 

and that he did not inform his interpreter that he misunderstood the document’s 

translation. See Kulakchyan, 730 F.3d at 995; Cheema v. Holder, 693 F.3d 1045, 

1049–50 (9th Cir. 2012) (holding that the written warning on the asylum 

application adequately notifies the applicant of the consequences of filing a 

frivolous application). The Board and the IJ did not err in crediting the 

declarations of two different interpreters stating that they translated the written 

warnings for Chilingaryan over Chilingaryan’s uncorroborated testimony that they 

did not, given his admission that he sought asylum using a false

identity. Kulakchyan, 730 F.3d at 995; see also Singh v. Holder, 753 F.3d 826, 

835–37 (9th Cir. 2014) (holding that the agency may weigh conflicting evidence 

even when there is no adverse credibility finding).
4 

2. The Board did not abuse its discretion by denying Chilingaryan’s 

motion to reopen. Even assuming his former counsel was deficient, Chilingaryan 

cannot demonstrate prejudice. As noted above, Chilingaryan had notice of the 

consequences of filing a frivolous application and the agency’s determination that 

it lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate his 2006 asylum application did not affect the 

materiality of his misrepresentations. An application may be found frivolous even 

when it has become moot. See, e.g., Kulakchyan, 730 F.3d at 996 (“We therefore 

join several of our sister circuits in holding that . . . a frivolousness finding [may 

be] based on a withdrawn application.”). Furthermore, because Chilingaryan 

knowingly filed a frivolous application for asylum and substantial evidence 

supports the agency’s determination that he received adequate notice of the 

consequences of doing so, he is ineligible for adjustment of status.

PETITIONS DENIED.