Opinion ID: 183359
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Adjudicated Claims.

Text: We begin with the adjudicated claims for withholding of removal and protection under the CAT. 1. Withholding of Removal. A well-defined legal framework governs applications for withholding of removal. The applicant must show that, independent of any presumption, there is a clear probability that he will be subjected to persecution on account of a statutorily protected ground upon repatriation. See López-Castro, 577 F.3d at 52; Chhay, 540 F.3d at 6. For this purpose, there are five statutorily protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, and political opinion. 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(B)(i). In the case at hand, Mariko alleges persecution on account of his political opinion, as manifested by his membership in the RPG. This is a statutorily protected ground. Building on that foundation, he rehearses the persecution that he claims to have suffered in the past, asserts that the same regime remains in power, and voices his fear of being harmed upon his return to Guinea. The IJ and the BIA rejected this claim primarily because of doubts about the veracity of Mariko's account of past persecution. Before turning to the supportability of this determination, we pause to make an important temporal point. Mariko filed his application for relief after May 11, 2005. Thus, his case is controlled by the credibility standard embedded in the REAL ID Act of 2005. Pub.L. No. 109-13, § 101(a)(3), 119 Stat. 302, 303 (codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii)). In gauging credibility under that standard, an IJ is directed to consider the totality of the circumstances, and all relevant factors, including but not limited to the alien's demeanor, responsiveness, and prior statements. Id. The IJ may also consider, where relevant, the plausibility of the alien's story and the presence or absence of corroborative evidence. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii). If the IJ reasonably deems the alien's testimony speculative or unworthy of credence, that testimony may be either discounted or disregarded entirely. Rivas-Mira, 556 F.3d at 4 (quoting Bebri v. Mukasey, 545 F.3d 47, 50 (1st Cir.2008)). In denying withholding of removal, the IJ concluded that Mariko's tale was not believable. Mariko strives to persuade us that this adverse credibility determination was not predicated on substantial evidence. We are not convinced. The IJ's determination was based on a series of specific findings. First, the IJ concluded that Mariko's use of fraudulent identification documents undermined his credibility. The factual premise on which this conclusion rests is rock-solid: Mariko admitted, in effect, that his identity card bore a signature and a fingerprint that did not belong to him. He also conceded that he had used fraudulent passports in the course of his journey to the United States and that the passport currently in his possession might be fraudulent. Though there may be valid reasons for an émigré to make use of fraudulent documents to escape from persecution, this case bears no such hallmark. After all, Mariko obtained a third fraudulent passport and the bogus identification card after he was safely within the United States. Moreover, he testified that his motivation behind obtaining these documents was that he got the lottery and wanted to get some documents from [his] country. On this record, the IJ was entitled to draw an inference of untrustworthiness from this serial use of fraudulent documentation. See Olujoke v. Gonzales, 411 F.3d 16, 22 n. 5 (1st Cir.2005). A second data point to which the IJ adverted concerned the inconsistencies between Mariko's words and the medical records. In his testimony, Mariko alleged that soldiers had subjected him to full-body beatings and caused numerous tears in his skin. But the medical records noted only a hand injury. Mariko was unable either to explain this discrepancy or to pin down the time when the medical records were generated. Third, the IJ found Mariko's professed relationship to the RPG to be vague and his testimony on this point lacking in detail. As an example, the IJ noted Mariko's inability to define his role in the organization. We view these findings as part and parcel of the IJ's global finding that Mariko's demeanor was disconcerting (and, thus, suggestive of untruthfulness). In this regard, the IJ noted that the pace of Mariko's testimony slowed perceptibly when he was asked about his potential involvement. Finally, the IJ found significant inconsistencies between the affidavit that Mariko submitted in support of his original application for relief and his hearing testimony. These inconsistencies related to such things as the beatings, his detention, and his interrogation. For example, in his affidavit Mariko vouchsafed that he was interrogated on each of the 19 days that he was detained and beaten each time that he was interrogated. In his testimony, however, he said that he was beaten only three to five times during the entire 19-day span. To bolster their argument that the IJ's adverse credibility determination was not supported by substantial evidence, the petitioners attempt to trivialize the individual failings and inconsistencies catalogued by the IJ. But the whole sometimes can exceed the sum of the parts, and the appropriate test focuses on the totality of the circumstances. The IJ's findings, in cumulation, constitute substantial evidence. See Pan v. Gonzales, 489 F.3d 80, 86 (1st Cir.2007) (Some of these inconsistencies, in isolation, may seem like small potatoes. What counts, however, is that their cumulative effect is great.). The record evidence is not such as to compel a reasonable factfinder to make a contrary determination and, thus, the IJ's assessment of Mariko's credibility deserves our approbation. See Da Silva, 394 F.3d at 4-5; see also 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B). Given that supportable determination, it follows inexorably that the BIA's denial of Mariko's application for withholding of removal must be upheld. 2. Protection under the CAT. This leaves Mariko's claim for protection under the CAT. To succeed on this claim Mariko had to prove that, more likely than not, he would be tortured if deported to his homeland. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.16(c)(2); see also Ahmed v. Holder, 611 F.3d 90, 97-98 (1st Cir.2010). On the facts of this case, Mariko's CAT claim is inextricably intertwined with his withholding of removal claim. Thus, what we have said about the supportability of the adverse credibility determination dooms Mariko's claim for CAT protection just as surely as it doomed his claim for withholding of removal.