Court Opinion

ID: 9499436
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:48:20.755641+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:30.261159
License: Public Domain

POSNER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The majority opinion is mainly devoted to refuting the petitioner’s due process claim and scants the more serious issue, which is whether the immigration judge’s determination that the petitioner lied in testifying that she was a victim of persecution in her country of origin can be said to be supported by substantial evidence.
Ordinarily the determination by the trier of fact that a witness is not telling the truth is conclusive on a reviewing court. But there are exceptions. One is where the trier of fact is a judge or other judicial officer, rather than a jury (a jury gives no explanations for why it believed or disbelieved a particular witness), and gives erroneous or illogical reasons for his determination; and then the case must be remanded unless the witness is unimportant or it is apparent that the trier of fact would have reached the same conclusion on rational grounds. We have repeatedly invoked this principle in asylum cases. Ayi v. Gonzales, 460 F.3d 876, 883 (7th Cir.2006) (another Togo asylum case); Pramatarov v. Gonzales, 454 F.3d 764, 765-66 (7th Cir.2006); Oforji v. Ashcroft, 354 F.3d 609, 613 (7th Cir.2003); see also Allord v. Barnhart, 455 F.3d 818, 821-22 (7th Cir.2006); Ahmad v. INS, 163 F.3d 457, 461 (7th Cir.1999). It is consistent with more general formulations of the standard of review of credibility determinations, such as that the determination cannot be overturned unless “the record compels a contrary conclusion.” Bradvica v. INS, 128 F.3d 1009, 1012 (7th Cir.1997).
The majority opinion quotes Oforji v. Ashcroft, supra, 354 F.3d at 613, for the proposition that “adverse credibility findings are overturned only under ‘extraordinary circumstances,’ ” but ignores our further statement that credibility determinations “must be supported by ‘specific, cogent reasons.’ In addition, these reasons must ‘bear a legitimate nexus to the finding’ ” Id. An identical qualification appears in Mansour v. INS, 230 F.3d 902, 906 (7th Cir.2000). The majority accuses me of merely “mouth[ing]” the standard of review and proceeding to “pick apart” the immigration judge’s analysis. The majority’s response is to oversimplify the standard of review by selective quotation and then to perform reconstructive surgery on that analysis.
In a close case, when the immigration judge fails to ground his finding on plausible observations of demeanor, plausible inferences from inconsistencies in the witness’s testimony, or other clues to dishonest or mistaken testimony, we have to overturn his determination. Review of *894credibility determinations is deferential, but deferential review is not supposed to mean rubber stamping. The Immigration Court is not small-claims court; mistaken rejection of an asylum claim can doom the claimant, literally. And as we know from another recent asylum case involving Togo, Kantoni v. Gonzales, 461 F.3d 894, 896-97 (7th Cir.2006), the testimony of Apouviepseakoda, if believed, would establish her right to asylum. See also Ayi v. Gonzales, supra.
As is apparent from his opinion and from the transcript of the hearing, the immigration judge, O. John Brahos, has, once again, “doubted the applicant’s credibility on grounds that, because of factual error, bootless speculation, and errors of logic, lack a rational basis.” Pramatarov v. Gonzales, supra, 454 F.3d at 765. We topped off another highly critical discussion of Judge Brahos’s reasoning by saying: “we have no idea why the IJ ruled as he did.” Gomes v. Gonzales, 473 F.3d 746, 755 (7th Cir.2007). As for the opinion of the Board of Immigration Appeals, its gist, so far as bears on the issue of credibility, is the following unhelpful sentence: “While no single concern would lead us to conclude that the [asylum applicant’s] story is untrue, the constellation of problems described by the Immigration Judge lead us to agree that the [asylum applicant] has not met her burden of proof to establish eligibility for relief from removal.” So all that we have to go on in assessing Apou-viepseakoda’s claim is Judge Brahos’s opinion.
The opinion declares her testimony “vague and inconsistent with the documentary evidence and it appears exaggerated” and riven with “inconsistencies and implausibilities.” She had testified that the dictator of Togo had imprisoned the mayor of her town after discovering that he was supporting the opposition to the dictator, and that because her husband supported the mayor he became a target of the dictator as well. Judge Brahos found this statement “unconvincing and vague,” but did not say why beyond remarking that “although [she] was allegedly a member of the UFC (the opposition), she does not allege that she was targeted for this membership but rather for her husband’s support of the Mayor.” Opposing a dictator is often bad news for the opponent’s family. But it would make no difference to the validity of her claim for asylum whether she had been persecuted on account of her own politics or those of her spouse; it would still be politically motivated persecution. E.g., Toure v. Attorney General, 443 F.3d 310, 320-21 (3d Cir.2006); de Belbru-no v. Ashcroft, 362 F.3d 272, 284-85 (4th Cir.2004); Khem v. Ashcroft, 342 F.3d 51, 53-54 (1st Cir.2003); Navas v. INS, 217 F.3d 646, 659 n. 18 (9th Cir.2000). This is not an esoteric point, but Judge Brahos overlooked it.
The petitioner testified that soldiers had ransacked her house and taken many photographs and other documents but not her passport or her children’s passports. The judge found this testimony unconvincing because “the only explanation provided by [her] is that the soldiers must not have found the passports.” That was speculation, of course; but how could she have offered any other explanation? She could not know the soldiers’ motives or methods. And the immigration judge, noting corroboration for the ransacking, did not find that it had not occurred. Of course the fact that the soldiers did not take her documents could be evidence that she was not an object of the dictator’s wrath after all. But that was not the inference that the immigration judge drew; rather he thought that her failure to nail down the reason for the soldiers’ not having taken *895her documents showed she was lying. That makes no sense.
The judge came down particularly hard on the petitioner’s testimony that she had been hospitalized for injuries that she had sustained when beaten by other soldiers. He pointed out that the hospital certificate that she tendered as evidence of her hospitalization is dated September 18 but states that the petitioner was seen “in consultation from September 18 to September 28.” That is a genuine anomaly, though similar mistakes can be found in medical records even in the United States, and the judge’s principal concerns lay elsewhere. The doctor who had signed the hospital certificate is identified on it as practicing in the fields of “Gynecology-Obstetrics-General Medicine.” The judge said that “when questioned why [the petitioner] was treated by a gynecologist for wounds and bruises to her body, [she] testified that she was not treated by a gynecologist. Her testimony, thus, is inconsistent with the documentary evidence she submitted to support her claim.” (She testified that she had been treated at the hospital by women and men but not by a gynecologist.) The fact that a gynecologist signed the hospital certificate doesn’t mean that he treated her, and though there is a prescription in the record that is stamped with his name, it is not signed. Moreover, “gynecologist” is not a complete description of him because it describes him as practicing general medicine as well as gynecology, and the petitioner may have been thinking of the former when she testified that she had not been treated by a gynecologist. That would be consistent with the diagnosis noted on the certificate of “chronic insomnia, psychosis, and total [illegible] cerebral edema,” none of which are gynecological conditions. It would not be surprising to discover that in a country as poor as Togo the medical profession is less specialized than it is in the United States.
The immigration judge questioned the diagnosis of “cerebral edema” because the petitioner “was wearing a scarf covering her head in the photographs [taken in the hospital, and submitted by her to the court] making it impossible to determine whether or not she had any head injuries.” The implication is that if she really had had cerebral edema, she would have exhibited it by baring her head. But there is no basis for thinking that the purpose of the photographs was to create evidence for a future asylum (or other) proceeding. Moreover, the other women in the photograph are also wearing headdresses, which is common in Togo (see, e.g., www.togoaid. com/ipw-web/b2/index.php?cat==l, visited Jan. 8, 2007), though these women had nothing to hide. Furthermore, cerebral edema is a swelling of the brain, not of the head. There is no reason to think that if the petitioner had had cerebral edema there would have been a visible injury. And, by the way, psychosis and.insomnia are among the symptoms of cerebral edema.
The majority opinion plays a variation on the immigration judge’s theme by pointing out that in the photographs Apou-viepseakoda “shows nary a scratch.” Well, of course; she is fully clothed in the photographs.
The immigration judge emphasized that the doctor who signed the certificate is said on it to have seen Apouviepseakoda “in consultation” rather than to have “treated” her. The emphasis is odd, given that the judge disbelieved her testimony that she had not been treated by the doctor. He seems to have thought both that consultation meant treatment and that the reference to consultation meant she hadn’t been treated at all and therefore must not have been injured.- That is a great muddle, but in any event one would have to *896know a good deal about the medical profession of Togo to attach any weight to the distinction between consultation and treatment. Speculating that the petitioner’s injuries may have been due to an automobile accident (suggested by no one, and inconsistent with the judge’s belief that she had not been injured), the judge said that “some injuries are a result of a complication because of preexisting condition and the treating doctor would have that information in his report and because you submitted to us a consulting doctor’s report I have to give it very little weight.”
He seems to have formed the opinion— on what basis he does not say — that the medical protocols of Togo are identical to those of the United States. Reading his opinion you might think the petitioner had been hospitalized in Truro rather than in Togo. Besides being a brutal dictatorship, Togo has a per capita GDP of $1,600 (2005) which is only 4 percent of the per capita GDP of the United States. Pertinent here is our reminder in Banks v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d 449, 453 (7th Cir.2006), that “an IJ is not an expert on conditions in any given country, and a priori views about how authoritarian regimes conduct themselves are no substitute for evidence — a point that we have made repeatedly, but which has yet to sink in.” See also Kantoni v. Gonzales, supra, 461 F.3d at 897.
Judge Brahos expressed great concern that two of the hospital photographs submitted by the petitioner are stamped “03 4 16,” which he interpreted to mean that they had been taken in 2003, whereas the hospitalization was in 2001. He overlooked the petitioner’s claim that the photographs had been submitted with her asylum application in 2002, making it physically impossible that they had been taken in 2003. As the majority opinion points out, the situation with the photographs is “not exactly clear,” in part it seems because the Department of Homeland Security failed to submit legible copies of the photos. But the immigration judge did not question the petitioner’s claim to have submitted the photos in 2002, so that, as the record stands, whatever “03 4 16” signifies, it is not the date on which the photographs were taken. The judge also speculated without any basis in the record that the photographs had been taken in the United States. Had they been taken in the United States, they would be more likely to have a correct date on them.
The immigration judge thought it incredible that the petitioner would have returned to Togo, as she did, for a visit after fleeing it. But she testified that she and her husband (who had fled to Ghana) had been members of the Togo bourgeoisie, and that she had money there (as well as her mother there, with whom she stayed on her visit), and was also looking for her husband. The judge thought that since the husband was in Ghana, his wife would not have sought his whereabouts in Togo. Yet he credited testimony that Ghana has been arresting enemies of Togo’s dictator and sending them back to Togo for trial, and this was consistent with the petitioner’s testimony that her husband was hiding in Ghana. It could also explain why she was inquiring about him in Togo rather than in Ghana. Family or friends of the couple in Togo might have information about where he was hiding.
The judge thought the petitioner wouldn’t have dared return to Togo for a visit had she really feared persecution. But she testified that she’d been able to enter and leave the country without incident because she had had the protection of an officer, who escorted her through customs. That is entirely plausible in as disordered a polity as Togo. The judge also thought it incredible that the petitioner *897could have been a member of the opposition party since 1995, as she testified, without having been arrested. But it is uncon-tradicted that she and her husband had the protection of the mayor of their town before the mayor’s fall from grace.
In pointing out these things, I am not being picky. I am not guilty of lack of charity in interpretation. The gaps in logic in Judge Brahos’s opinion are yawning chasms.
We can gain further insight into Judge Brahos’s reasoning process by considering the extraordinary statements by him that pepper the transcript of the hearing, beginning with the extreme displeasure he displayed at the fact that the petitioner testified in a soft voice. He said: “[Y]ou have to speak up so I can hear your voice. Today passiveness and demureness is not the regiment [sic ] of the day. Today aggressiveness and loudness is [sic ] the regiment [sic] of the day and you can even scream at the Court. I will not take offense to that, but I want to hear your voice. So, if you force me repeatedly to ask you to raise your voice I will not be pleased. And also might indicate the posture of your case as well. If you’re really strong in your convictions you’ll express it in a strong manner. If your answers are weak the Court may believe that you’re [sic ] claim is also weak so conduct yourself accordingly.” I have never before heard it suggested that truthfulness can be inferred from a witness’s decibel level. Nor have I ever heard of a judicial officer’s inviting a witness to scream at him. What makes Judge Brahos’s tirade weirder still is that the petitioner was testifying in French (the official language of Togo), not English, and the interpreter did not complain that he couldn’t hear her. So even if she’d been completely inaudible to the judge, it could have made no rational difference to him.
The fact that she was testifying through an interpreter has a significance that my colleagues do not appreciate when they say that “The IJ spent 6 hours in a hearing room, face to face, with Ms. Apouviepseak-oda. We have never met her.” I take this to be an allusion to the common though not necessarily correct belief that being present when a witness testifies greatly assists a judge or juror in determining whether the witness is telling the truth. Even if so in general, it cannot be so when the witness is a foreigner testifying through an interpreter, especially if the judge cannot even hear the foreigner, but only the interpreter. Beading the facial expressions or body language of a foreigner for signs of lying is not a skill that either we or Judge Brahos possess.
The judge was skeptical about the petitioner’s claim that her husband owned a radio station in Togo. She tendered a photo, but he responded that “I have photographs also in high school where I took pictures with a radio transmitter there. Does that mean that that is an operating business because you have a photograph?” He also asked her whether the record contained anything “from the listeners to verify that they heard the station.” He was also skeptical about her testimony that her husband owned a garbage-collection business. He was troubled that she “has no specific items from employees who verified that they worked for your husband” — does Judge Brahos really expect garbage men in Togo to provide affidavits concerning their former employer, now an enemy of the state? The judge thought it remarkable that the petitioner did not remember the years in which her husband owned the garbage-collection business, saying: “A spouse does not know what her husband is doing when he’s working, is that what you wish me to believe, ma'am?” To which she sensibly answered: “Yes. In *898Africa it is very difficult for a woman to be involved in her husband’s business.” He persisted: “So, when he goes to work in the morning you don’t know where he’s going, is that what you’re saying? [It’s not what she had testified.] He doesn’t tell you [?]” She answered: “He tells me that he goes to work but I don’t follow him to see where he, he’s would go.” To which Judge Brahos responded: “That’s amazing.” He then instructed the interpreter: “You want to tell her that’s amazing. You want to tell her.”
Enough about Judge Brahos’s appalling handling of this serious case. The failure is more an institutional than a personal one. One cannot but sympathize with the difficulty under which the immigration judges labor quite apart from their horrendous workloads, which Congress and the Justice Department have done nothing to try to alleviate. Rarely, at least in the eases that reach this court, have the parties presented to the Immigration Court evidence of high probative value either for or against the claim for asylum. Most asylum applicants come from distant, poor, and poorly governed countries about which Americans, including the immigration judges, who are not selected for their knowledge of foreign countries, know nothing — countries in which often it is impossible to find witnesses or obtain accurate documentary evidence supporting or opposing the applicant’s case. Rarely is there much evidence beyond the applicant’s testimony. She has the burden of proof, and the immigration judge is not required to accept her testimony just because it is not refuted. He should not. He should probe for contradictions, and if he finds serious ones he can refuse to believe her testimony and we will uphold his ruling. What he cannot be permitted to do is ignore the rules of logic, as Judge Brahos did in this case when he declared that to be seen by a doctor in “consultation” both is and is not to be “treated” by the doctor; or to fabricate contradictions, as he did when he concluded that the hospital photographs had been taken in 2003, though they could not have been taken then since, so far as appears, they had been submitted to the immigration authorities' in 2002; or to assume, as the judge did throughout his opinion, that a West African dictatorship is in all material respects just like the United States. The immigration judge’s opinion is pervaded by gross errors of fact and logic, and read in light of the hearing transcript is an embarrassment to American justice.
It may be true, as the majority opinion suggests in footnote 2, that the conditions under which the immigration judges labor are such that these judges cannot be expected to make “competent findings of fact.” But the majority is wrong to think that therefore a reviewing court should uphold immigration judges’ incompetent findings of fact. For then an agency could insulate its decisions from judicial review simply by understaffing.
The petitioner is entitled to a new hearing before a different immigration judge.