Opinion ID: 201978
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mehilli's Application and Testimony

Text: 5 Mehilli, a native of Albania, arrived in the United States on a date which is the subject of some dispute. Mehilli applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief on June 23, 2001; in that application, he stated that he entered the United States on December 5, 2000. He later changed that date of entry, as we explain below. On January 14, 2002, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) 1 instituted removal proceedings against him. 6 On May 9, 2003, Mehilli appeared before an initial Immigration Judge. He testified that he left Albania in late November of 2000 and traveled to Athens, then Milan, and finally Los Angeles, arriving on December 5, 2000. Mehilli told the initial IJ that he entered the United States using a false passport bearing the name Fatmir Gjata. The initial IJ immediately asked the government to check whether a Fatmir Gjata entered the country on that date; the government ran a computer check and found no matches. When this was relayed to Mehilli, he said, I don't believe it, because I came, that's the way I came from Albania . . . that's the name. He added: I cannot lie. 7 Mehilli later appeared before a second IJ on three different dates in 2003 to offer further testimony. At the first of these hearings, the IJ said he would start the case de novo and would take testimony even on issues covered by the initial IJ, because he needed to make credibility determinations himself. 8 Mehilli then testified to a version of events that differed substantially from both his earlier testimony and his asylum application: he stated that he had traveled from Athens to Milan using the name Fatmir Gjata, but that he had then traveled from Milan to Los Angeles with a Slovenian passport bearing the name Marko Brezar. He also stated that he arrived on May 4, 2001, not December 5, 2000. Mehilli submitted as evidence a passport bearing the name Marko Brezar; he also submitted a plane ticket bearing the same name, which he said he had used to fly to Los Angeles. Asked why he was changing his testimony, he testified that the person that gave me these passports and tickets told him not to show the name and date that I arrived here. 9 During the same hearing, the second IJ addressed Mehilli's motion for a new trial, in which he argued that the initial IJ had behaved improperly by discounting Mehilli's credibility and trying to impeach his testimony on peripheral issues. The second IJ denied this motion, stating: 10 Your client has admitted to us that he was lying to the Immigration Judge at the last hearing. So I'm finding your motion here less than convincing where . . . you seem to be complaining that the Judge was impugning your client's credibility at the last hearing unfairly, when, in fact, it turns out that your client was lying to the Judge. 11 The IJ went on to find that, since Mehilli offered little proof other than his own testimony as to his arrival date, and since he was not credible given his false testimony under oath, he had not proved that he arrived in the United States within a year before filing his asylum application; this failure rendered him ineligible for asylum. 12 The IJ stated that despite this ruling, he would hear Mehilli's testimony as to the merits of all three claims for relief. 2 Mehilli testified as follows: He became a member of Albania's Democratic Party in 1992 and played an active role in the party. Beginning in 1993, he owned a bakery in Tirana, the Albanian capital. In 1997, the rival Socialist Party came to power, and Mehilli began to feel pressure from government officials. In February 1997, members of the Socialist Party came to Mehilli's bakery and told him to close it down; they told him they were closing bakeries like his because they wanted to take the Democratic Party off the power. Mehilli refused. When Socialist officials started paying return visits to bakeries, asking them why they had not closed as ordered, Mehilli moved to a new space elsewhere in Tirana; the bakery occupied the first floor, while Mehilli and his family lived upstairs. The bakery kept running even after Mehilli left Albania, and Mehilli was still receiving money from its operation, even up to the time of the hearing. 13 In the summer of 2000, Mehilli testified, he received a letter purporting to levy a $20,000 fine against his bakery; the letter stated that if Mehilli did not pay, he would be killed. He offered no evidence as to who might have sent the letter. However, he testified that several days later, he went to pick up his voting card and discovered that his and his wife's names were misspelled on their cards; at this point, he testified, he realized the incidents were connected — Socialists had altered his card so he could not vote, and the fine was being levied for political reasons. He admitted on cross-examination, however, that many voters experienced problems with the voter registration lists. 14 Several days after the voting card incident, Mehilli testified, police officers came to his home at 5 a.m. and searched it. He testified that the officers pushed him against a wall and said, we came to pick up the guns that you have illegally, because you're a member of the Democratic Party, you have guns. Finally, Mehilli testified that in November 2000, unknown assailants tried to kidnap his younger son. He stated that one day, as his wife, her brother, and his son were leaving the brother's home, three people tried to grab his wife and take her son from her arms. He could not identify the assailants; he said they must have been Socialists because the kidnapping attempt was a continuance . . . of their actions against him. 15 Mehilli's wife, Sonila, also testified. As to the attempted kidnapping, she testified that an armed man tried to grab her son and she pushed him away; as she did so, her brother opened fire, frightening the man off. She stated that she did not fall to the ground at any time during the incident. As to the search, Sonila Mehilli said she saw an officer push her husband, and that no one else was pushed.