Opinion ID: 6498778
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Barseghyan’s arrival at the hospital

Text: The BIA and IJ determined that Barseghyan provided inconsistent testimony regarding how he got to the hospital after being tortured. In his written declaration, Barseghyan described that after he was beaten by government officials, “my health was deteriorating, I began losing time and orientation . . . I could not remember things. I was released BARSEGHYAN V. GARLAND 9 and went to the hospital where I was bed-ridden.” On direct examination when asked who transported him to the hospital, he answered, “Those same policemen I believe, because of the condition that I was in perhaps they also became scared.” On cross-examination, the government asked him about how he got to the hospital and suggested he took himself. Barseghyan again answered that the police took him and that he came to his senses at the hospital. Barseghyan contends that there is no inconsistency, and we agree. His written declaration does not specify how he arrived at the hospital (just that he went there), and the fact that his written declaration describes that he was “bedridden” at the hospital shows that he was in no condition to transport himself. The first mention of Barseghyan transporting himself to the hospital appears not in something that Barseghyan said or wrote but rather in the government’s framing on cross-examination: the government added that Barseghyan’s declaration “says that you were released and you went to the hospital on your own.” The BIA, in a footnote, acknowledged that Barseghyan never actually said in his declaration that he took himself to the hospital. This alleged inconsistency does not support an adverse credibility determination because it is not, in fact, inconsistent. See Kumar, 18 F. 4th at 1154.