Opinion ID: 1189008
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: substantial evidence supports the adverse credibility determination

Text: Malkandi's credibility was at issue on multiple frontsthe saga he wove about his flight from Iraq, the improbability of his relationship with Bawareth, the inconsistencies in his story about making medical arrangements for Khallad, the inherent implausibility of that entire tale, as well as his evasive demeanor with investigating officers and while testifying. Ultimately, his credibility serves as a backdrop for evaluating the national security charge. Malkandi's consistent falsehoods presented under oath, in the words of the BIA, were his undoing as the BIA discredited his portrayal of himself as an innocent participant. Under the REAL ID Act, in determining a petitioner's credibility, an IJ should [c]onsider the totality of the circumstances, and all relevant factors, which may be based on: the demeanor, candor, or responsiveness of the applicant or witness, the inherent plausibility of the applicant's or witness's account, the consistency between the applicant's or witness's written and oral statements (whenever made and whether or not under oath, and considering the circumstances under which the statements were made), the internal consistency of each such statement, the consistency of such statements with other evidence of record (including the reports of the Department of State on country conditions), and any inaccuracies or false-hoods in such statements, without regard to whether an inconsistency, inaccuracy, or falsehood goes to the heart of the applicant's claim, or any other relevant factor. 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii), as amended by § 101(a)(3) of the REAL ID Act, Pub.L. No. 109-13, 119 Stat. 231, 303 (2005). The IJ must provide specific and cogent reasons in support of an adverse credibility determination. He v. Ashcroft, 328 F.3d 593, 595 (9th Cir.2003). Once this criterion is met, we accord the credibility determination special deference. See Malhi v. INS, 336 F.3d 989, 993 (9th Cir.2003). Under the substantial evidence standard, we may reverse a BIA credibility determination only if the evidence that the petitioner presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could find that [the petitioner] was not credible. Farah v. Ashcroft, 348 F.3d 1153, 1156 (9th Cir.2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). Where . . . the BIA has reviewed the IJ's decision and incorporated portions of it as its own, we treat the incorporated parts of the IJ's decision as the BIA's. Molina-Estrada v. INS, 293 F.3d 1089, 1093 (9th Cir.2002). Malkandi was caught in a lie of significant magnitude; he does not contest that he completely fabricated virtually his entire past in his statements to the UNHCR. Nor does he deny that he repeatedly passed up opportunities to correct these misstatements. The BIA was negatively impressed by Malkandi's subsequent perpetuation of these lies at each stage of the naturalization process. But these distant falsehoods were not the principal basis for the credibility ruling. Malkandi was far from forthcoming with government agents regarding his connections to Khallad: he initially denied knowledge of the NovaCare letter in his first meeting with the FBI, repeated similar denials when he was questioned by other members of the Special Task Force, and only gave some ground when the agents forced him to read in the 9/11 Report the extent of the intelligence community's knowledge of his links to al Qaeda. Even once Malkandi moved past this absolute denial, his testimony before the IJ provided ample reasons to doubt his candor. The IJ found that, unlike other aspects of his testimony, at several points in his testimony about Khallad, Malkandi stated that he did not understand a question or did not know or could not recall particular pieces of information, even though the events at issue were far more recent than the long-past events he remembered with greater clarity. Specifically, he claimed not to recognize the name Salah Mohammed, the names of the people at NovaCare with whom he spoke, or the fact that he had received the NovaCare letter or other emails apparently sent by Khallad and later obtained by the FBI through a search of Malkandi's computer. The IJ observed that his demeanor during this portion of his testimony stood in sharp contrast to his demeanor in other aspects of his testimony. All in all, the story Malkandi told explaining his participation in the efforts to enable Khallad to enter the country was highly implausible. Under all the above circumstances, the IJ's credibility findings are supported by substantial evidence. On appeal, Malkandi fails to dig himself out of this evidentiary hole, for which he has no one but himself to blame. He argues that the BIA's adverse credibility finding was not supported by substantial evidence, raising five specific objections: (1) the BIA failed to consider the circumstances under which Malkandi provided the UNHCR with falsehoods; (2) the BIA failed to consider the corroborating evidence in support of his testimony about his knowledge of Khallad and the NovaCare letter; (3) the BIA mischaracterized his testimony as evasive; (4) the BIA showed excessive deference to the government witnesses in arriving at its determination; and (5) the BIA did not have support for discrediting sequential religious conversions. In sum, Malkandi claims the BIA failed to consider the totality of the circumstances and the factors enumerated in 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii). It is Malkandi, however, who is overlooking the totality of the evidence, as he quibbles instead with minor details that fail to undermine the BIA's credibility finding. Although under the REAL ID Act credibility findings no longer need to go to the heart of the applicant's claim, 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii), the key bases for the adverse credibility finding in this case are central to Malkandi's application. As to the first issue, the BIA's opinion briefly acknowledged that Malkandi testified that he had been told that he would not qualify for refugee status with the UNHCR had he told the truth about his past. The BIA did not ignore this point. Nonetheless, the BIA fairly focused on the fact that Malkandi continued the representations long past this initial point of claimed necessity or utility. Malkandi also claims the BIA ignored corroborative evidence by inconsistently drawing upon the supporting documentation, relying only on those aspects that were supportive of the government's case while overlooking other portions that support Malkandi's view. Specifically, Malkandi claims that three pieces of corroborative evidenceelements of the 9/11 Report itself, his wife's testimony, and evidence from NovaCaresupport his contention that his contact with Khallad was quite limited. The BIA considered all of this evidence but none of it changed the reality of Malkandi's contact with Khallad. These other bits of information do not conclusively undermine the government's allegations of Malkandi's role nor do they negate the specific findings of lack of credibility. At best, this merely puts a different spin on identical facts. Similarly, Malkandi's challenge to the BIA's characterization of his testimony regarding Khallad and the NovaCare letter as evasive, obscures a broader view of the evidence. This determination was not based on one furtive glance or vague conclusion but rather on detailed findings supported by concrete examples. See Arulampalam v. Ashcroft, 353 F.3d 679, 686 (9th Cir.2003) (holding that an IJ's demeanor-based negative credibility finding must specifically and cogently refer to the noncredible aspects of the applicant's demeanor). As noted, the IJ observed and documented a distinct contrast between Malkandi's testimony on this point and his other testimony. Other evidence in the record under-scores that this evasiveness was not limited to Malkandi's time on the witness stand, but had been a constant theme throughout Malkandi's interactions with the government agents. We also cannot agree with Malkandi's view that the BIA showed excessive deference to the government's witnesses. Any such deference is not reflected in the record. Pointing to several gaps and statements made by the agents that he claims are unsupported by the record, Malkandi cites two cases, Matter of Al-Jailani, No. A7336983, 2004 WL 1739163 (BIA June 28, 2004) (unpublished) and Cheema, that resulted in favorable outcomes for the petitioners. Matter of Al-Jailani is hardly illuminating as it involved an unpublished bond decision, not an appeal reviewing a final order of removal. Malkandi also posits that the terrorism connections to Kaur [4] , the female petitioner in Cheema, were just as tenuous as those alleged here. But unlike Malkandi, Kaur was found to be credible so we had little difficulty reversing the BIA's finding that she was a danger to national security because she had donated money on one or two occasions to Sikh widows and orphans through organizations that the government suspected of being tied to Sikh militants. See Cheema, 383 F.3d at 856-57. Malkandi's reliance on Cheema gets things precisely backwards. The petitioner in Cheema was not deemed credible because the government's evidence provided only tenuous connections to terrorism; rather, the government's tenuous evidence was insufficient in part because the petitioner credibly provided an innocent explanation. To infer, as Malkandi asks us to do, that Malkandi is credible because the government has not produced a smoking gun would be circular. Finally, the BIA states in passing, [w]e also note the respondent's allegiances and religious convictions appear to shift depending on his circumstances. The fact is that Malkandi has had a dynamic personal religious evolution (from Muslim to Baha'i to Mormon), but there is little evidence to support the BIA's doubts on this basis. This statement, which was made without further discussion, however, can hardly upend a credibility determination. Whatever slight failings Malkandi may perceive in the credibility analysis, they are surely not significant enough to defeat the adverse credibility finding.