Court Opinion

ID: 9871924
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 20:48:30.625178+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:38:50.080589
License: Public Domain

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent. I believe that each of the purported inconsistencies cited by the IJ can be explained away or are so trivial that they should not be the basis for denying Parunakyan’s application.
In 1999, Mushegh Parunakyan fled political persecution in his native Armenia in search of a better life in the United States. After he obtained employment and a work visa, Parunakyan’s wife, Aida, and three young children, Levon, Shoghik, and Karo-lina, joined him in the U.S. In 2003, Paru-nakyan was not able to renew his work visa, and he promptly filed for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). He was denied all relief and the government has, as of yet, declined' to exercise prosecutorial discretion.
Parunakyan and his family have built a new life in the U.S. Now, for the second time in 17 years, the family will be' uprooted and forced to start over. Parunakyan’s now-adult children, who are products of our education system and members of our community, will be sent to a country that is foreign to them. We should not deny them the opportunity to use their talents in the country they call home.
I decline to be a party to this unkind result.