Opinion ID: 213284
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Issue Of Corroboration [1]

Text: Before us, Dong argues that the BIA erred in requiring her husband's testimony as corroboration of her claim because it is both unnecessary and unreasonable. She urges that, since her husband was in the United States at the time of the abortion in 1997, his statement, or misstatement, on the subject was nothing more than hearsay, and of limited relevance. She also argues that his testimony pales in significance to the other probative evidence she has offered. Dong reasons that the other evidence of recordspecifically, the letter from her mother-in-law, the abortion certificate, her husband's parole and travel documents, and the United States medical documentationis much more persuasive than her husband's testimony would be. Dong also insists that it is unreasonable for the BIA to require her husband's corroboration in light of the outstanding exclusion order entered against him, [2] and that her husband's assertion in his claim should not be determinative of her credibility. Though we share some of Dong's concerns regarding the relevance of her husband's testimony, we need not address them specifically, as we find that the IJ and the BIA erred by misapplying the law regarding when corroboration is necessary in order to meet one's burden of proof. In Abdulai we vacated a BIA order which found that a Nigerian man failed to meet his burden for asylum due to a lack of certain corroborating evidence. 239 F.3d at 555. We held that it is appropriate for the BIA to require otherwise-credible applicants to supply corroborating evidence in order to meet their burden of proof when it is reasonable to expect such evidence to be produced. [3] Id. at 551. Our definition of reasonable in this context is where the facts [requiring corroboration] are central to the applicant's claim and easily subject to verification. Chukwu v. Att'y Gen., 484 F.3d 185, 192 (3d Cir.2007). In Abdulai, we approved of the three-step inquiry utilized by the BIA when considering the need for corroboration. 239 F.3d at 554. We held that the IJ can find that a petitioner's failure to produce corroborating evidence is fatal, but only after following the three-step inquiry, which requires: (1) an identification of the facts for which it is reasonable to expect corroboration; (2) an inquiry as to whether the applicant has provided information corroborating the relevant facts; and, if he or she has not, (3) an analysis of whether the applicant has adequately explained his or her failure to do so. Id. at 554 ( quoting In re S-M-J-, 21 I. & N. Dec. 722 (BIA 1997)). This inquiry also requires that an applicant be given the opportunity to produce the corroborating evidence. Id. In Abdulai we vacated the BIA's order and remanded for further proceedings because the IJ failed to perform the first step of the inquiry, namely, to identify what particular aspects of [the applicant's] testimony it would have been reasonable to expect him to have corroborated. 239 F.3d at 554. We have required faithful adherence to the three-prong test. In Chukwu v. Attorney General, we remanded the BIA's determination that Chukwu, a Nigerian, failed to meet his burden of proof for an asylum claim that was based on a fear of persecution due to his membership in MASSOBthe Movement for the Actualization for the Sovereign State of Biafra. 484 F.3d at 193. In that case, as in Abdulai, the IJ failed to give sufficient notice to the applicant of the need to corroborate his claim of being a member of MASSOB the first requirement of the Abdulai inquiryand, therefore, did not give the applicant the opportunity to supply evidence that would have satisfied his burden. Id. Conversely, in Sandie v. Attorney General, we upheld the IJ's denial of a Sierra Leone native's application for asylum due to a failure to corroborate. 562 F.3d at 254. In doing so, we stated that the IJ adequately performed the Abdulai inquiry: giving notice to the applicant of the facts requiring corroboration, offering ample opportunity to supply corroboration, and thoroughly reviewing, on the record, the evidence offered to corroborate prior to concluding that he failed to meet his burden. Id. at 253. Here, however, we conclude that, unlike in Sandie, the IJin focusing solely on the absence of corroboration regarding Jian's statement about an alleged forced abortion in 1992 in denying Dong's claimfailed to follow the steps required by Abdulai. The essence of Dong's claim, as the IJ highlighted in the initial proceedings, is Dong's allegation that she was forced by officials to abort a pregnancy in her native China in 1997. We presume that the IJ believed that it was reasonable to have corroboration of the fact of the forced abortion in 1997, and we have little difficulty in finding that it was reasonable for him to have this expectation. Dong offered corroboration of this fact by producing, among other things, the letter from her mother-in-law, the special disease certificate from Guantow Central Community Hospital, her medical records from her doctors' visits here in the United States, and her husband's parole and travel documents from his trip to China in 1996. The IJ and the BIA failed to consider whether this evidence satisfied step (2) under Abdulai, that is, whether it corroborated her claim that she was forced to undergo an abortion in 1997 when she was seven months pregnant. Rather, the IJ and the BIA found that because there was a question raised by the statement in Jian's application, there was a need to specifically corroborate her story with his testimony or an affidavit from her husband. Without this corroboration, the BIA concluded that Dong failed to meet her burden of proof. In his opinion, the IJ reasoned that Dong's husband was a star witness who could shed light on the conflict between the two applications. While his affidavit may have cleared up the misunderstanding, we think the focus on this particular evidence as corroborating and required under our jurisprudence was misplaced. First, corroborating evidence is required if needed to prove a fact, and if it is central to one's claim. Chukwu, 484 F.3d at 192. If Dong's claim is that she was forced to have an abortion in 1997 when Jian was not present in China, how is Jian's testimony about that event necessary, let alone central to Dong's claim? The situation would be different if Jian had been in China at that time and his application contained a direct inconsistency regarding what occurred in 1997. But that is not the case. Moreover, how is his explanation as to what occurred in 1992 either central or corroborating as to events that occurred five years later, in 1997? We, thus, question the characterization of Jian's missing evidence as corroborating the fact in question. Even more important, had the IJ properly followed the three-step Abdulai inquiry, the IJ would have reasoned through the main issuewhether or not Dong met her burden of proof in her asylum application. As noted above, the IJ did satisfy step one of the inquiry by pointing to the facts surrounding the alleged forced abortion as those that would require corroboration. But the IJ then muddied the waters by shifting his focus away from whether Dong actually provided information corroborating the relevant facts concerning the alleged forced abortion in 1997. Abdulai at 554. Instead, the IJ dwelled on what her husband's explanation would be as to what occurred in 1992 and why Dong did not produce him to explain himself. The IJ concluded that Dong's failure to produce an affidavit from her husband deemed necessary corroboration by the IJdefeated her claim. We suggest that this is not what our precedent in Abdulai calls for. Abdulai typically comes into play when a petitioner has testified, apparently credibly, about the facts giving rise to her claim, but the IJ believes it would be reasonable for her to have corroboration of one or more facts, such that he imposes an obligation on her to produce corroboration in order to meet her burden. The next step is to assess whether such corroborating evidence has been supplied. If it is reasonable to expect corroboration of the fact to be producedthat is, such evidence is central and availableand it has been produced, Abdulai is satisfied. As to corroboration not supplied, under step three, the IJ asks if the failure is satisfactorily explained. Here, step two was not performed at all. The IJ should have weighed the Guantow Hospital certificate against the DHS report and addressed the relative merits of these documents. The IJ should have evaluated the letters from Dong's family to gauge their corroborative value. The IJ should have considered Dong's husband's parole and travel documents to see whether they explain his whereabouts in relation to Dong's assertions. The IJ should also have reviewed Dong's United States medical records and considered whether the fact that Dong discussed her alleged forced abortion with her doctors in the United Stateswhen seeking medical care for the pregnancies that resulted in the birth of Dong's two youngest children reflects favorably on whether this did in fact occur, and thus constitutes meaningful corroboration of her claim. All of this evidence should be considered to gauge whether Dong met her burden to corroborate her testimony. The only aspect not corroborated was, we suggest, not really an issue of corroboration at all, but rather an explanation as to a statement made by her husband in his application about a forced abortion in 1992. While the absence of explanation from her husband is perhaps perplexing, it does not amount to a lack of corroboration, nor does it undermine the force of any of the other specific corroborating evidence. And while under step three we might question why Dong would fail to produce an explanation from her husband, we do know he was under a removal order and we can imagine a host of other possible reasons. While the IJ seems to assume a wife can readily produce a statement from her husband, we suggest that is not necessarily an appropriate assumption, [4] let alone a proper basis for an adverse finding when other evidence has been offered to corroborate her version of events. Accordingly, we will remand to the BIA to remand to the IJ for proper analysis of the evidence under Abdulai.