Opinion ID: 2973555
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Fraudulent Documents

Text: Mr. Sterkaj next protests the IJ’s finding that his submission of the summons and “wanted” document impaired his credibility. An applicant’s presentation of “a fraudulent document ‘to prove a central element of the claim in an asylum adjudication . . . in the absence of an explanation regarding such presentation[ ] creates serious doubts regarding the [applicant’s] overall credibility.’” Selami v. Gonzales, 423 F.3d 621, 625 (6th Cir. 2005) (quoting In re O-D-, 21 I. & N. Dec. 1079, 1083 (BIA 1998)). “‘[S]uch fraud tarnishes [the applicant’s] veracity and diminishes the reliability of his other evidence.’” Id.
Mr. Sterkaj first urges the court to disregard as unreliable the investigation that reported the summons to be fraudulent because Mr. Ceci, the U.S. Embassy’s investigator in Albania: (1) “was reporting what was told to him by an employee of the Shkoder District Attorney’s office”; (2) did not sign the telegram forwarding his findings to the INS; and (3) graduated from an Albanian police academy that produces corrupt and “untrained” police officers. Mr. Sterkaj, however, fails to back up these allegations with supporting evidence. See Shllaku v. Gonzales, 139 Fed. Appx. 700, 702 (6th Cir. 2005) (rejecting petitioner’s claim that the Embassy investigator was untruthful where the claim was “unsupported”). We therefore reject his unreliable-investigator argument. Second, Mr. Sterkaj insists (on appeal but not at the reconvened hearing) that he did not know, and had no reason to know, that the document was fraudulent because his cousin obtained it for him. In Selami, the petitioner submitted a fraudulent newspaper article in support of his application. 423 F.3d at 623. On appeal he argued that the IJ erred in relying upon the article because his father sent it to him and he was unaware that it was fraudulent. Id. at 626. This court rejected the petitioner’s argument, reasoning that the obvious nature of the forgery precluded any finding that the petitioner had no reason to know that the article was fraudulent. Mr. Sterkaj contends on appeal that he had no reason to know that the summons was fraudulent because his cousin obtained it. But like Selami, the IJ here adjourned the hearing for three years in order to investigate the authenticity of Mr. Sterkaj’s submission—and during that time Mr. Sterkaj failed to question his cousin about its bona fides. See id. That factor bore on the credibility assessment by the IJ in Selami and this court sustained that reliance. As in Selami, Mr. Sterkaj had this opportunity to verify that the copy of the summons was legitimate. And again mirroring Selami, when asked at the reconvened hearing to rebut the charge that the summons was fraudulent, petitioner did not claim that he had been duped. See id. He instead claimed the district attorney’s office in Shkodra, Albania could not authenticate the summons because many records housed in that office were destroyed in 1997 and 1998. That response did not account for the forged stamp. The INS Forensic Document Laboratory determined that the stamp impression at the bottom of the summons was hand drawn and not produced with a stamp. Thus the district attorney’s office was unable to authenticate the summons, not because many of its documents had been destroyed, but because it was a forgery. In light of Mr. Sterkaj’s failure to explain the fraud, we conclude that submitting the spurious summons supports the adverse credibility finding. And though the forgery here required microscopic examination to confirm the fraud (the amateurish Selami forgery was obvious), we think that factor matters not. An applicant must take reasonable measures to verify the authenticity of any documents accompanying an application. From fraudulent submissions, triers of fact may presume a purpose to defraud in the absence of a persuasive explanation.
Mr. Sterkaj submitted another document in which the Albanian Ministry of Public Order declared his wife a “wanted person” for “[d]enying knowledge of the whereabouts of her husband.” No. 04-4232 Sterkaj, et al. v. Gonzales Page 5 He claims on appeal that “it is not known why the document was filed with the IJ or how it was obtained.” We are unpersuaded. The record evidences that Mr. Sterkaj submitted the document in support of his application, swore that all the documents attached to the application were true to the best of his knowledge, and then neglected to repudiate or otherwise acknowledge that the document was flawed until questioned on cross-examination. Mr. Sterkaj initially testified that his troubles in Albania began on February 20, 1998. The document, however, dated ten days earlier (February 10, 1998), says that Mrs. Sterkaj has been wanted since September 20, 1997, more than five months before Mr. Sterkaj testified that his troubles began. When asked about the discrepancy on cross-examination, Mr. Sterkaj replied, “My wife never had any problem, maybe it’s a typing mistake or something like that. Because my wife never had any problem.” And on appeal, Mr. Sterkaj contends for the first time that he does not know “why the document was filed with the IJ or how it was obtained.” Mr. Sterkaj’s implicit suggestion that some other party submitted the document, without more, is unconvincing. Because Mr. Sterkaj cannot reconcile the inconsistency, we concur with the IJ’s view that Mr. Sterkaj’s argument lacks merit. In sum, the INA requires us to accord the IJ’s credibility determinations a high degree of deference. Mullai, 385 F.3d at 638. Viewing the record as a whole, we conclude that substantial evidence supports the IJ’s adverse credibility determination. Because nothing in the record compels us to disturb that determination, we affirm.