Opinion ID: 797143
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Merits of Lin's Appeal

Text: 66 Having found jurisdiction to consider in full the petition for review before us, we evaluate all of the errors alleged. With respect to the IJ's adverse credibility finding, Lin challenges (a) the IJ's treatment of inconsistencies between Lin's 1994 and 2000 testimony, and (b) the IJ's analysis of some of Lin's corroborative documentation. In particular, Lin argues that the IJ erred (1) in his treatment of inconsistencies as to the hospital protest, (2) in his assertion of inconsistencies regarding Lin's wife's abortion and pregnancy dates, (3) in his finding of inconsistencies in the description of Lin's wife's period in hiding, (4) in his handling of Lin's household registration booklets, and, most importantly, (5) in his treatment of the question of whether Lin's wife's abortions were voluntary. In addition to these errors pertaining to credibility, Lin argues that the IJ improperly assessed the future risk of sterilization by overestimating the legal impact of Lin's planned divorce and by determining that forced sterilization was not an act of torture encompassed by the CAT. 26 67 We address each of these arguments in turn, and find merit in several of Lin's contentions. 68
69 As he argued to the BIA, Lin first contends that the IJ exaggerated the difference between the 1994 and 2000 accounts of Lin's alleged protest at the hospital, and, as a result, erroneously relied upon those inconsistencies in doubting Lin's credibility concerning his wife's abortions. Although we are largely unpersuaded by Lin's efforts to minimize his shifting accounts of the hospital protest, we are nonetheless concerned by the IJ's holding that Lin's lack of credibility as to that event impugned Lin's account of his wife's forced abortions. 70 As a factual matter, the record supports the IJ's determination that the 1994 and 2000 versions of Lin's conduct at the hospital during his wife's second abortion were inconsistent. 27 As set forth above, Lin's 1994 testimony—in particular the alleged participation of other individuals at the hospital and Lin's narrow escape from the authorities—differed from the 2000 account in which Lin was a solitary actor, was briefly detained, but was allowed to leave at the conclusion of his wife's surgery. 71 Yet the identification of testimonial inconsistencies does not end our inquiry. As frequently has been held, while an IJ's application of the maxim falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus may at times be appropriate, an applicant's testimonial discrepancies— and, at times, even outright lies— must be weighed in light of their significance to the total context of his or her claim of persecution. See Secaida-Rosales, 331 F.3d at 308; Diallo v. INS, 232 F.3d 279, 288 (2d Cir.2000); In re O-D-, 21 I. & N. Dec. 1079, 1081-83 (BIA 1998); see also Yongo v. INS, 355 F.3d 27, 33 (1st Cir. 2004) (Obviously there are some lies that, because of their circumstances and limited relationship to the main issue, do relatively little to discredit other statements.). Testimonial inconsistencies are not sufficient as the sole basis for an adverse credibility finding where the inconsistencies do not concern the basis for the claim of asylum or withholding, but rather matters collateral or ancillary to the claim. Secaida-Rosales, 331 F.3d at 308 (emphasis added); see also Borovikova v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 435 F.3d 151, 167 (2d Cir.2006). 72 This principle inherently includes a dimension of proportionality, i.e., that the agency has properly assessed the scale of the inconsistency in the context of the balance of the alien's testimony. In Alvarado-Carillo v. INS, 251 F.3d 44 (2d Cir. 2001), we used the example that one might easily and quickly characterize a person shopping for groceries as `forgetful' if, after being instructed to buy four specific grocery items, he or she failed to purchase one and got the wrong brand of another; on the other hand, the evaluation of a person making the same errors after an instruction to purchase twenty specific items would almost certainly not be the same. Id. at 51. In other words, the significance of an inconsistency can be overstated or understated if viewed in isolation, and overstatement is especially likely where the inconsistency bears little on the applicant's claim. 73 The legal significance of Lin's inconsistency regarding the hospital protest, therefore, depends on the basis of Lin's claim for asylum. When the agency reopened Lin's claim in 2000 in view of the amended definition of refugee under the INA, Lin's wife's forced abortions acquired new significance. As stated by the IJ himself, the key issue for Lin's reopened application was whether Lin was the spouse of a person who had been compelled to abort a pregnancy, within the meaning of In re C-Y-Z-, 21 I. & N. Dec. at 918, and the IJ made his adverse credibility finding regarding the hospital protest in the context of that claim. Forcible abortions of his wife's pregnancies, then, were the heart of Lin's claim in 2000, and the IJ's adverse credibility inferences regarding the incident at the hospital must be understood in that context. Thus situated, we find that the change in testimony regarding the scale of Lin's objection to government policy to have been a relatively minor discrepancy at the periphery of Lin's claim for relief. See Diallo, 232 F.3d at 288; Secaida-Rosales, 331 F.3d at 308. 74 Significantly, as to the two alleged abortions and two threats of sterilization, Lin's testimony at both his 1994 and 2000 hearings was consistent except in the dating of the first abortion. Applying our reasoning in Alvarado-Carillo, Lin's consistency with respect to myriad details at the heart his claim for persecution is an important setting for assessing his credibility. See 251 F.3d at 51. And, as discussed below, the IJ found that Lin's wife's affidavit corroborated the occurrence of the forced abortions. The testimonial inconsistencies about the scope and details of Lin's behavior at the hospital—which might fatally undermine Lin's claim to asylum if based on episodes of anti-government conduct— were not sufficiently weighty to overcome the consistency of numerous core facts relating to Lin's claim for asylum based on his spouse's forced abortions. As a result, while we cannot deem erroneous the IJ's factual finding of testimonial embellishment with respect to Lin's expression of dissent at the hospital, we conclude that these testimonial differences cannot on their own bear dispositive weight with respect to Lin's claims that his spouse had been forced to abort two pregnancies. 75
76 The IJ did, however, provide other grounds for his adverse credibility finding. The IJ correctly noted that Lin's testimony in 2000 concerning his wife's abortions and IUD insertions had changed from 1994 in certain particulars. First, Lin's later testimony added several details, and in one instance corrected a date, regarding the insertion and removal of IUDs between his wife's pregnancies. Second, Lin gave a different date for his wife's first abortion. Lin acknowledged these variances, stating at the 2000 hearing that in 1994 he had been incorrect concerning the dates of certain events, and that in the interim, he had spoken to his wife, who had a better memory of the chronology, because they related to events that had affected her most directly. Lin now argues, as he did to the BIA, that the IJ erred in assessing these omissions and inconsistencies. 77 The legal significance of the omissions in Lin's 1994 testimony must be gauged in the light of what he was claiming at that hearing as against his claims in 2000. As discussed, at Lin's first hearing, the details concerning his wife's medical procedures were significantly less relevant to Lin's asylum claim in 1994, as Lin was not then claiming asylum based on the persecution of his spouse. See Secaida-Rosales, 331 F.3d at 308; see also Mece v. Gonzales, 415 F.3d 562, 575-76 (6th Cir.2005) (If presented discrepancies cannot be viewed as attempts by the applicant to enhance his claim of persecution, they have no bearing on credibility.). The addition of further detail, and even improved accuracy, regarding the specific chronology of Lin's wife's abortions was a purpose of the reopened asylum hearing in 2000, and thus Lin cannot be penalized for adding new testimonial evidence with respect to those events. 78 As for Lin's correction of the date of his wife's first abortion and the date of the IUD insertion in 1992, his explanation is factually plausible—particularly in light of Lin's wife's corroborating affidavit, about which the IJ's decision expressed no doubts. This does not mean that the IJ had to believe the explanation, but, crucially, the IJ appears to have accepted it. The IJ stated: [T]he Court can understand that the applicant's wife would be able to more accurately recall the dates when the IUDs were inserted and/or removed and when the abortions took place. Yet despite this acknowledgment, the IJ found Lin not credible with respect to his wife's abortions. 79 We find that corrected dates as to one abortion and one IUD implantation are relatively minor inconsistencies in the context of an eight-year chronology involving four pregnancies, two births, two abortions, three IUDs, and two threats of sterilization. See Alvarado-Carillo, 251 F.3d at 51. Nevertheless, these discrepancies were not unimportant, in light of their proximity to the core of Lin's claim. See Secaida-Rosales, 331 F.3d at 308. If Lin had rested his case at this point, as he did before the BIA, he would have left unchallenged several other grounds for the IJ's adverse credibility finding—inconsistent testimony regarding his wife's hiding, conflict between testimony and the household registries, and background evidence indicating that his wife's abortions were voluntary. Under those circumstances, we would have been confident that the agency would have reached the same holding in the absence of errors. See Li Hua Lin, 453 F.3d 99, 2006 WL 1755289 at . But given our holding above with respect to exhaustion, we must consider the implications of the additional arguments raised in Lin's petition for review to us, and evaluate the possible futility of a remand in the light of the full sum of IJ errors. We therefore turn to the new arguments raised in Lin's petition for review. 80
81 The IJ's decision relied on the fact that Lin had testified at his reopened hearing that his wife had hidden six kilometers away with her mother, and that this testimony was inconsistent with Lin's wife's written statement that she had gone far away to hide with a friend. An examination of the transcript of the 2000 hearing, however, reveals that the IJ's description of Lin's testimony was inaccurate. Lin actually stated that his wife had hidden both with friends and with her mother. When the IJ subsequently asked Lin to explain the apparent discrepancy between his wife's characterization of her hiding place as far away and his statement that his mother-in-law lived six kilometers away, Lin stated again, in conformity with his initial testimony, that his wife had hidden in multiple locations. On this record, we find the IJ's characterization of Lin's and his wife's stories on this matter as inconsistent to be unsupported by the record. See Chung Sai Zheng v. Gonzales, 440 F.3d 76, 80 (2d Cir.2006).
82 The IJ also erred, at least in part, in finding discrepancies between Lin's testimony and the household registries submitted as corroborating evidence. The IJ observed that the registries appeared to show that Lin's second son, born in 1986, whom Lin stated was registered only after the payment of a 6,000 yuan fine in December 1990, had in fact been registered with the other members of the family on February 15, 1990. That this date is inconsistent with Lin's testimony (1) that the fine was paid in December 1990, and (2) that his second son was not registered until after the payment, is clear. But the existence of both sons, and the violation of the one-child policy that the second birth constituted, is corroborated by Lin's testimony in 1994 and by Lin's wife's affidavit, which the IJ appeared, in large measure, to credit. Furthermore, there is no inconsistency as to the fine required to register that son, nor as to his registration some four years after his birth. As a result, this discrepancy appears to be the sort of collateral detail that the IJ can consider, but that should not, in itself, undercut Lin's central claims concerning his wife's abortions and his own threatened sterilization. See Secaida-Rosales, 331 F.3d at 308. 83 More troubling to the validity of the IJ's ultimate conclusions are the IJ's comments regarding a second household registry, which was not admitted into evidence and which, with the exception of dates written in Arabic numerals, was written entirely in Chinese. The IJ stated in his decision that, although he could not read this second registry, he was able to determine from the dates that it was inconsistent with the translated document that was admitted into evidence. The first problem with this finding is the IJ's reliance on non-record evidence, which the BIA has prohibited. See In re S-M-J-, 21 I. & N. Dec. 722, 728 (BIA 1997) (stating, in the context of a country report not included in the record, that any evidence relied upon by the Immigration Judge must be included in the record so that the Board can meaningfully review any challenge to the Immigration Judge's decision on appeal). But, even were we to ignore the failure to put the registry in the record, it is patently improper to draw conclusions from a document written in a foreign language in the absence of a certified translation. See Augustin v. Sava, 735 F.2d 32, 37 (2d Cir.1984); 8 C.F.R. § 103.2 (Any document containing foreign language submitted to the Service shall be accompanied by a full English language translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that he or she is competent to translate from the foreign language into English.). 84 Such conclusions cannot be treated as reliable. This lack of reliability is borne out by our own examination of the Arabic numerals legible on the untranslated household registry. To us, this document reveals no apparent discrepancies that might warrant the IJ's findings. The IJ's conclusion concerning this second registry is, therefore, not supported by the evidence. Moreover, we cannot avoid the concern that the IJ's apparent problems with this untranslated registry might have affected, inappropriately, the weight he placed on the earlier-described discrepancy regarding the registration of Lin's second son. 85
86 Most important, because central to the viability of Lin's claims in 2000, we conclude that the IJ's determination that Lin's wife's abortions must have been voluntary, rather than forced, was not supported by substantial evidence. In drawing this inference, the IJ relied on the contents of a State Department country report indicating that the issuance of abortion certificates (which Lin testified he had received but had lost) occurred only in cases of voluntary abortions. In so stating, the IJ gave no indication of the year of the country report to which he was referring. Accordingly, we must assume that he was referring to the 1999 State Department report, which was the only one included in the administrative record. But we have found no discussion of abortion certificates in this report. 87 Moreover, even if such evidence were in that report, we would think that where the claim is one of past persecution, it is unreasonable to draw inferences regarding the circumstances of abortions performed in 1990 and 1991 based upon a report prepared nearly a decade later. And this is so quite apart from our frequently-stated caution that State Department reports cannot be presumed to present[] the most accurate picture of human rights in the country at issue, and that such reports do not automatically discredit contrary evidence presented by [an asylum] applicant. Tian-Yong Chen v. INS, 359 F.3d 121, 130 (2d Cir.2004). 88 It follows that the IJ did not have before him reliable evidence upon which to base his conclusion that Lin's wife's abortions were voluntary, rather than forced as she attested in an affidavit which the IJ found, on the whole, to be credible.
89 Finally, we turn to the two grounds stated by the IJ for rejecting Lin's contention that he faced sterilization if removed to China: (1) that Lin's divorce removed the threat of any such procedure, and (2) that, in connection with Lin's claim for CAT relief, sterilization is not tantamount to torture. As to the first, we note that the transcript of the January 31, 2001 hearing indicates that the IJ became aware of Lin's divorce proceedings only minutes before his oral decision was rendered, and that, upon receiving this information from Lin's attorney, the IJ made no further inquiry into the matter. We think it evident that an inquiry would need to be conducted in order to assess reliably, at the least, (a) whether the divorce proceedings had, in fact, been concluded, and (b) whether China's family planning officials sought to sterilize Lin in order (I) to prevent further childbearing specifically from this —now, perhaps terminated— marriage, (ii) to preclude any future procreation by an individual who already had two sons, or, finally, (iii) to punish Lin for his prior violations of the one-child policy. On the current record, the IJ's assessment of the impact of Lin's divorce on his sterilization claim cannot be said to be supported by substantial evidence. 28 90 Regarding the IJ's determination that a threat of torture could not be made out by a proved claim of forced sterilization, our capacity to review this legal conclusion is compromised by the IJ's silence as to the analytical basis for it. See Shi Liang Lin v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 416 F.3d 184, 191 (2d Cir.2005). In any event, we need not decide the question of whether involuntary sterilization pursuant to China's population control policy meets the definition of torture adopted by the CAT. Because the IJ's legal conclusion that threatened sterilization does not warrant CAT relief was unsupported by any reasoning whatsoever, see, e.g., Yu Sheng Zhang, 362 F.3d at 158-59 (discussing the need for sufficient reasoning in a summarily affirmed IJ opinion so as to permit judicial review), we must vacate the IJ's determination on this issue and remand it to the BIA. It is for that agency to decide, in the first instance, whether and how the merits of the question should be considered. 29 91