Opinion ID: 797699
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Motion to Supplement the Record and Motion for a New Hearing

Text: 29 After the April 29 hearing, Petitioner filed a motion to supplement the record with an affidavit from the native Burmese speaker who attended the hearing and attempted to speak during the hearing. The government resisted the motion and Petitioner responded, asking for new hearing. In the affidavit, the native speaker indicated specific instances of incorrect translation and stated that, in his assessment, approximately twenty percent of the translation contained errors. Examples referenced by the native speaker included, inter alia, the above-referenced claim by the translator that Petitioner had made reference to his children, when Petitioner, in fact made no reference to children and, in fact has no children; the translator's misuse and interexchange of general terms like mistreated and beaten with more specific terms like raped and tortured like before leading to confusion regarding when, how often, and at which location Petitioner experienced torture during his incarceration; the interpretation of questions about when Petitioner met his wife as questions regarding when Petitioner married his wife; and questions about his hometown rather than questions about his place of birth. According to Petitioner, these and other passages in the transcript led to confusion and delay in Petitioner's answers and confusing, contradictory answers that contributed to the IJ's overall impression regarding Petitioner's credibility.