Court Opinion

ID: 9477976
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:36:05.392847+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:09.063847
License: Public Domain

BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
I do not dispute that withholding of deportation is not discretionary. If the alien meets the statutory test, 8 U.S.C. § 1253(h), the Attorney General cannot deport the alien. Turcios v. INS, 821 F.2d 1396, 1398 (9th Cir.1987); Bolanos-Hernandez v. INS, 767 F.2d 1277, 1281 (9th Cir.1985).
However, the circumstances of petitioner’s case come nowhere near those of the aliens in those two cases. Unlike the alien in Turcios, petitioner was never arrested— nor was he confined, beaten or tortured like Turcios was. Unlike the alien in Bolanos-Hernandez, petitioner was not threatened to be killed by the guerrillas if he refused to join their ranks. In fact, the one or two times (depending on what is believed in petitioner’s testimony) that *1143guerrillas came to his parents’ home to recruit him, petitioner was not even home. There was no confrontation between petitioner and guerrillas so there was no threat.
Petitioner has failed to establish that he has been, or will be, singled out for persecution. Zepeda-Melendez v. INS, 741 F.2d 285, 290 (9th Cir.1984); Cardoza-Fonseca v. INS, 767 F.2d 1448, 1453 (9th Cir.1985), aff'd 480 U.S. 421, 107 S.Ct. 1207, 94 L.Ed.2d 434 (1987). Petitioner simply cannot meet his burden of proving a well-founded fear of persecution.
I also dissent on the issue of the IJ’s and BIA’s credibility findings. I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the inconsistencies in petitioner’s testimony are minor. The story concerning the death squad incident conflicts as to the year of the incident, the length of time the petitioner was sheltered from the death squad and whether payment was made for their accommodation. For example, petitioner testified he hid for one hour but his cousin Reyes-Flores, with whom he hid, testified they stayed the whole night and the next day. Furthermore, the discrepancy in years is a full two years — petitioner testified the incident happened three years ago and Reyes-Flores testified it happened last year. These are not minor inconsistencies.
There are other inconsistencies, not minor in nature, which support a finding of no or little credibility. These include: 1) petitioner’s testimony that another cousin was shot in the leg while in the army, while Reyes-Flores testified that the same cousin was shot in the arm; 2) petitioner testified that he was in the army for a month, but Reyes-Flores testified that petitioner was in the army for only five days; and 3) despite his purported fear of the guerrillas and the death squad, petitioner waited a year to leave El Salvador after the incident.
None of these inconsistencies are minor, nor can they be attributed, as the petitioner and the majority suggest, to language barriers, mistranslation, miscommunication or cultural differences.
I would affirm the IJ’s and the BIA’s findings on petitioner’s credibility.