Opinion ID: 2997032
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Other Documentary Evidence

Text: We now turn our attention to the other documentary evidence in this case, the most important of which, according to Ms. Balogun, are the reports on the state of FGM in Nigeria and the March 18, 2001 letter from Ms. Balogun’s mother. Although the IJ focused on the three factors analyzed above in making his adverse credibility determination, he did not ignore these other pieces of evidence. As to the reports on FGM in Nigeria, the IJ noted that, although these reports demonstrate that FGM continues to be a “problem” in Nigeria, they do “not provide the sort of support that the respondent has contended.” A.R. 47. Ms. Balogun has again relied extensively on these reports in this court. Although we agree that these reports reveal that FGM is not just a “problem,” but a serious one, see Nwaokolo v. INS, 314 F.3d 303, 308-10 (7th Cir. 2002), we nevertheless must conclude that the IJ treated these reports adequately in this case. The latest Department of State Country Report in the record is from 2000, and it notes two studies that put the incidence of FGM in Nigeria at approximately fifty and sixty percent, respectively. A.R. 255. Ms. Balogun notes that, in Nwaokolo, we noted that the incidence of FGM has been reported as high as ninety percent. 314 F.3d at 308. However, a June 1, 2001 State Department Report or Bulletin on FGM in Nigeria which is cited in Nwaokolo and which we may take judicial notice of, id., puts the incidence of FGM in 14 (...continued) transcript in his adverse credibility determination, her suggestion is obviously without foundation. Finally, Ms. Balogun suggests that the IJ’s reliance on the transcript violated her due process rights; this too is patently without merit, especially given that no objection was voiced to its admission into evidence. 28 No. 02-4248 Ogun State—where Ms. Balogun is from and where she claims the source of her threat arises—at thirty-five to fortyfive percent. See Nigeria: Report on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or Female Genital Cutting (FGC), June 1, 2001, Dep’t St. Bull., available at http:/www.state.gov/g/ wi/rls/rep/crfgm/10106.htm. This is much more probative than the national figures cited, given that the incidence of FGM often varies significantly from state to state.15 See id. Moreover, as the IJ noted, the 2000 Country Report, and other reports in the record, indicate that the incidence of FGM is declining and that Ogun is one of the states to have outlawed FGM. See, e.g., A.R. 255 (State Department 2000 Country Report). Although other facts in these reports support Ms. Balogun’s claim and the continuing problem of FGM in Nigeria generally, see id. (noting that state-imposed punishments for FGM are “minimal”), we cannot say that the IJ exceeded his bounds in interpreting these reports and applying them to the situation of this particular applicant. Cf. Gonazelez-Hernandez v. Ashcroft, 336 F.3d 995, 1000 (9th Cir. 2003) (“[W]here the BIA rationally construes an ambiguous or somewhat contradictory country report and provides an ‘individualized analysis of how changed conditions will affect the specific petitioner’s situation,’ Borja v. INS, 175 F.3d 732, 738 (9th Cir. 1999) (en banc) 15 The June 1, 2001 Bulletin on FGM in Nigeria noted in Nwaokolo v. INS, 314 F.3d 303, 308 (7th Cir. 2002), was issued just weeks before the IJ’s decision, and Nwaokolo was issued well after the IJ’s decision. The IJ apparently did not have the June 1, 2001 Bulletin before him when he made his decision, and we do not mean to imply that his findings were inadequate without it. We note the June 1, 2001 Bulletin and its findings because Ms. Balogun relies heavily upon Nwaokolo, which in turn relies upon this Bulletin, on this appeal and because it is important to our discussion. No. 02-4248 29 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted), substantial evidence will support the agency determination.”). The IJ was certainly within the substantial evidence boundary in determining that, while relevant, these reports could not revive the applicant’s credibility. See In re S-M-J-, 21 I. & N. Dec. 722, 729, 1997 WL 80984 (BIA 1997) (en banc) (“Adverse credibility determinations are appropriately based on inconsistent statements, contradictory evidence, and inherently improbable testimony; and where these circumstances exist in view of the background evidence on country conditions, it is appropriate for an Immigration Judge to make an adverse credibility determination on such a basis.”). The same rationale applies to the other piece of documentary evidence upon which Ms. Balogun extensively relies: the March 18, 2001 letter from “Mum,” which states, inter alia, that the “elders keep asking when you are coming back to perform the traditional rites.” A.R. 273-74. The IJ noted the letter, but he clearly believed that it could not overcome the other “very disturbing aspects of the respondent’s credibility in this case.” Id. at 43. We agree with Ms. Balogun that this letter supported her claim by helping to corroborate her story, but it is not the type of evidence which, in the face of the other evidence and the IJ’s findings, would allow us to overturn the IJ’s decision. This case, like so many asylum cases, has a record which plausibly could support two results: the one the IJ chose and the one Ms. Balogun advances. Nevertheless, for this court “[t]o reverse the BIA [or IJ] finding we must find that the evidence not only supports [the opposite] conclusion, but compels it.” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 n.1 (1992). The IJ found Ms. Balogun’s claim of fear to be incredible, and he cited specific, cogent reasons that bore a legitimate nexus to that finding. Because the evidence does not compel 30 No. 02-4248 a different result, we must affirm the IJ’s denial of Ms. Balogun’s asylum claim, and the BIA’s summary affirmance of the IJ’s decision.