Opinion ID: 2709411
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Dimova Statement

Text: Both the immigration judge and the Board deemed the Dimova statement properly admissible in Pouhova’s removal proceedings. We disagree. The interview was conducted in English without an interpreter. There was no evidence about Dimova’s English language skills, and Pouhova did not have the opportunity to cross-examine either Dimova or the interviewing officer about Dimova’s ability to participate in the interview. The Fifth Circuit addressed a similar situation in HernandezGarza v. I.N.S., 882 F.2d 945 (5th Cir. 1989), when it considered an ex parte affidavit by a witness who could not read or speak English. The immigration judge did not permit the petitioner to question the agents who took the affidavit about their Spanish skills. The Fifth Circuit held that this denied the petitioner a fair hearing, noting that “the probative value of statements written in a language that the witness can neither read nor speak, absent corroboration, is questionable at best.” Id. at 948 (internal quotations omitted), citing GuzmanGuzman v. I.N.S., 559 F.2d 1149, 1150 (9th Cir. 1977) (written witness statements by “authors who neither spoke nor read the language in which they were written,” which the authors disclaimed at the live hearing, were unfairly admitted in No. 12-1665 11 removal hearing, but testimony of agents provided sufficient corroboration). Other courts have found that the reliability of a statement decreases when it reports on a conversation hindered by language barriers. See Gonzalez-Gomez v. I.N.S., 450 F.2d 103, 105 (9th Cir. 1971) (document unreliable where alien could not speak or read English and could not read Spanish, and interviewer’s Spanish skills were unknown). In the asylum context, we have said that airport interviews “are useful only if they are reliable.” Jamal-Daoud v. Gonzales, 403 F.3d 918, 923 (7th Cir. 2005). An interview may not be reliable where significant language barriers exist, even when a translator is used. Balogun v. Ashcroft, 374 F.3d 492, 504–05 (7th Cir. 2004) (reliability concerns the applicant’s “ability to answer the interviewer’s questions,” for example, “if there are language barriers”), citing Ramsameachire v. Ashcroft, 357 F.3d 169, 180 (2d Cir. 2004) (listing factors for considering reliability of airport interviews, including “if the alien’s answers to the questions posed suggest that the alien did not understand English or the translations provided by the interpreter, the alien’s statements should be considered less reliable”). The government argues that the statement is sufficiently reliable as hearsay because it was against Dimova’s penal interest. See Matter of Devera, 16 I. & N. Dec. 266, 270 (BIA 1977) (ex parte affidavit admissible where it included statement against penal interest as it would have been admissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence). That argument is not persuasive here for two reasons. First, it is circular. Whether the answers recorded by Inspector Weiler were against Dimova’s penal interest or not says nothing about whether she under12 No. 12-1665 stood the questions and he understood her answers as she intended them. Second, it is not clear what additional penalties Dimova’s statements implicating Pouhova exposed her to beyond immediate removal, which she already faced.6 She had already been caught attempting to use the passport and visa of another person. Her further claim that she planned to pay Pouhova $1,500 served to implicate only Pouhova, not Dimova. Cf. Hernandez-Guadarrama v. Ashcroft, 394 F.3d 674, 682 (9th Cir. 2005) (witness “was herself at risk of a felony prosecution under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 because she had previously been deported and had reentered the country illegally. Thus she was not, by any means, a disinterested witness.”). In any event, the uncertainty and lack of testimony about Dimova’s English skills without an interpreter render the report unreliable, whether against penal interest or not. It was not fundamentally fair to admit the statement without an opportunity for Pouhova to question Dimova or Weiler about Dimova’s ability to participate in the interview.