Opinion ID: 1192676
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The IJ's Irrelevant and Inflammatory Questions

Text: Castilho de Oliveira finally challenges aspects of the IJ's behavior during the hearing, arguing, for example, that the judge repeatedly and inappropriately interrupted his testimony and that of his expert with irrelevant and confrontational questions. An IJ's cross-examination of witnesses is not alone cause for concern; under the applicable statutes, immigration judges are authorized to interrogate, examine, and cross-examine the alien and any witnesses. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(1); see also Apouviepseakoda, 475 F.3d at 885. But the IJ's frequent interruptions in this case were highly problematic. Judge Brahos repeatedly stopped both Castilho de Oliveira and his expert witness to ask irrelevantand in some cases entirely inappropriatequestions. For example, the IJ demanded to know the witnesses' religious beliefsand pursued this line of questioning at some length with each witnesseven though Castilho de Oliveira's claims were not based on religious persecution. The IJ questioned Castilho de Oliveira about whether his half-sister was born out of wedlock, an utterly irrelevant inquiry. The IJ derailed the expert's testimony to discuss the totally inappropriate and irrelevant topic of whether Castilho de Oliveira might be infertileor, as the judge indelicately put it, whether Castilho de Oliveira might shoot blanks. Comments and questions of this nature are wholly inappropriate, if not enough alone to warrant a new hearing. While these improper questions did not ultimately have the effect of preventing Castilho de Oliveira from putting on his case, see Apouviepseakoda, 475 F.3d at 885-86, they are worth discussing because they suggest a larger problem of apparent bias on the part of the IJ. Taken individually, any of the flaws we have identified in this hearing might be viewed as a harmless mistake. But the record as a wholethe tone of the IJ's cross-examination of Castilho de Oliveira and his expert witness, the frequent interruptions, the inappropriate questions and comments, and the IJ's ultimate failure to engage with the evidence in the record while resting his decision on speculation and irrelevanciesleaves the impression that the IJ entered the hearing with his mind already made up. The problems we have identified are cumulatively disturbing and convince us that Castilho de Oliveira was denied a meaningful opportunity to be heard before a neutral IJ, required by statute and regulation. [4] See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b)(4)(B); 8 C.F.R. § 1240.1(c); Bosede, 512 F.3d at 952. Accordingly, Castilho de Oliveira's petition for review is GRANTED; the decision of the BIA is VACATED; and the case is REMANDED for a new hearing, preferably before a new immigration judge.