Opinion ID: 782806
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Asylum, Withholding of Deportation, and Convention Against Torture

Text: 11 Where, as here, the BIA conducts a de novo review of the IJ's decision, our review is limited to the BIA's decision. Singh v. Ashcroft, 301 F.3d 1109, 1111 (9th Cir. 2002). We must affirm if the BIA's determination is supported by substantial evidence. Id. 12 Although we review credibility findings under the deferential substantial evidence standard, in order to make an adverse credibility finding, [t]he BIA must have a legitimate articulable basis to question the petitioner's credibility, and must offer a specific, cogent reason for any stated disbelief. Valderrama v. INS, 260 F.3d 1083, 1085 (9th Cir.2001) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The discrepancies must go to the heart of the asylum claim. Id. The BIA's decision met this standard. 13 The BIA noted, inter alia, 2 geographic discrepancies which went to the heart of Malhi's claim of being persecuted in Punjab for being an AISSF member. Location was critical here because the evidence indicated that Sikhs in Bihar had not been persecuted as they had in Punjab, and it was not clear that Malhi actually lived in Punjab as he claimed. Specifically, the BIA noted that Malhi testified that he was born in Punjab, went to school in Bihar, and then moved back to Punjab in 1988, where he stayed until 1996, before fleeing to Bihar six months before leaving for the United States. However, Malhi's asylum application and other INS documents showed his birthplace as Bihar, not Punjab, and stated that he lived in Amritsar, not Bihar, before leaving India. The BIA also found it implausible that Malhi, a university-educated man who spoke Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, and English, could not read or write Punjabi if he had in fact lived in Punjab and operated a business there for eight years. These findings were sufficiently specific, cogent reason[s] for questioning Malhi's credibility. Id. 14 Where the BIA provides a specific, cogent reason for questioning a petitioner's credibility, the petitioner must show that the evidence compelled a contrary conclusion in order to overcome the special deference accorded to the BIA's credibility determinations. See Chebchoub v. INS, 257 F.3d 1038, 1042 (9th Cir.2001); De Leon Barrios v. INS, 116 F.3d 391, 393 (9th Cir.1997). Malhi has not done so. He presented no evidence of the medical treatment he reportedly received and no records of his cousin's death. Only one of the several affidavits he submitted attested to Malhi being arrested, that being the one from his father, and at best it only partially corroborated Malhi's version of events. Accordingly, given the lack of corroborating evidence, we cannot say that we are compelled to believe Malhi's story. Chebchoub, 257 F.3d at 1042. 15 With the adverse credibility finding intact, we are left with Malhi's membership in AISSF. On its own, membership in AISSF does not compel us to find a well-founded fear of persecution, INS v. Elias Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483-84, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992), because, according to the State Department report considered by the IJ and BIA, membership in AISSF alone would not pose a nationwide danger. Because substantial evidence supports the lack of a well-founded fear of persecution, Malhi's withholding of deportation claim is necessarily foreclosed. See Valderrama, 260 F.3d at 1085. His Convention Against Torture claim also fails because he has not shown that it is more likely than not that he will be tortured if returned to India. 8 C.F.R. § 208.16(c)(2).