Court Opinion

ID: 9469509
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:42:19.184595+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:25.401931
License: Public Domain

KEARSE, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result and in the reasoning of the majority opinion, although I have a somewhat different perception as to the *220details of some of the district court’s analysis. Whereas the majority views the district court as having improperly substituted its own judgment and policies for those of District Director Sava “on several occasions,” it appears to me that on some of the occasions referred to the district court was merely making credibility evaluations. Thus, in reviewing some of the factors outlined by Sava as to the likelihood of abscon-dence, the district court was making an effort to determine whether these were bona fide factors in Sava’s own conclusion. This emerged most clearly in the matter of Sava’s inclusion of State Department action or inaction as a pertinent factor, which the district court found “disingenuous,” 535 F.Supp. at 1014, and in the discussion of documentation in which the court referred to one feature as “the most incredible aspect of Sava’s testimony,”1 id. at 1012 n.15.
To the extent that the district court was making credibility assessments, its review was consistent with the strictures of Klein-dienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753, 92 S.Ct. 2576, 33 L.Ed.2d 683 (1972). But I agree with the majority that with regard to at least one of Sava’s factors — i.e., the prefer-ability of family sponsorship over group sponsorship — the district court did indeed substitute its own judgment and its own weighing of the relevant considerations for those of the District Director; and as to certain other factors, it is not clear from the opinion whether the district court was engaging in an impermissible reevaluation or a permissible assessment of credibility.
Since it is clear that at least to some extent the district court impermissibly substituted its judgments for those of Sava and that these substitutions were essential to the court’s conclusion that the 8 Haitians were indistinguishable from the 12 non-Haitians, and thus to the finding of impermissible discrimination, I agree with the majority that the case must be remanded. In that a remand is required, I concur in the remand to the District Director for a fresh evaluation of the parole applications in light of the current circumstances.

. While recognizing the deference due a district court’s evaluations as to a witness’s credibility, I agree with the majority that the court’s finding here of a rigid categorization by Sava as to the meaning of “documentation” was clearly erroneous, since it ignored portions of Sava’s testimony that clearly indicated that he recognized different types or degrees of documentation.