Court Opinion

ID: 9499134
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:38:38.893657+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:18.148271
License: Public Domain

RAWLINSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. I simply cannot agree that we are compelled to find Suntharalinkam credible. See Malhi v. INS, 336 F.3d 989, 993 (9th Cir.2003) (explaining the special deference accorded to the BIA’s credibility determination). As the majority opinion recognizes, so long as one of the Immigration Judge’s identified reasons for disbelieving Suntharalinkam is supported by substantial evidence and goes to the heart of the persecution claim, we must accept the Immigration Judge’s adverse credibility determination. Majority Opinion at 1040. See Li v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 959, 964 (9th Cir.2004). Additionally, we have endorsed the concept of cumulative incredulity. See Pal v. INS, 204 F.3d 935, 938 (9th Cir.2000).
The majority opinion takes issue with the IJ’s finding that Suntharalinkam’s testimony regarding employment that was not included in his asylum application supported an adverse credibility finding. Majority Opinion at 1041. However, we have specifically recognized testimony that is inconsistent with the details of the asylum application as supporting an adverse credibility determination. See id.
The majority also faults the IJ for relying on the omission of Suntharalinkam’s August, 2000, detention from his asylum application. Majority Opinion at 1042. However, we have upheld an adverse cred*1051ibility determination for just that reason. See Alvarez-Santos v. INS, 332 F.3d 1245, 1254 (9th Cir.2003).
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that Suntharalinkam’s discrepant testimony regarding the soldiers’ foray into the family’s home was not significant. Majority Opinion at 1042. Because the incident with the soldiers is a critical component of Suntharalinkam’s persecution claim, any inconsistency in the details of this crucial incident may support an adverse credibility finding. See Singh-Kaur v. INS, 183 F.3d 1147, 1151-52 (9th Cir.1999).
I also take issue with the majority’s conclusion regarding the conflict between Suntharalinkam’s testimony describing his medical treatment and the records produced to support that testimony. Majority Opinion at 1043-45.
Suntharalinkam testified that he was treated for injuries sustained when he was beaten. However, the hospital records he produced reflect that he was treated for hepatitis, not for injuries suffered as a result of a beating. We have held that a conflict between testimony and medical documents offered to bolster that testimony constitutes substantial evidence to support an adverse credibility determination. See Singh v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 1139, 1143 (9th Cir.2004). And we did so without imposing any requirement that the applicant be afforded an opportunity to explain any discrepancy between his testimony and the documentary evidence. See id.
Neither of the two cases cited by the majority is to the contrary.
In Guo v. Ashcroft, 361 F.3d 1194, 1200 (9th Cir.2004), we ruled that “unclear testimony may not serve as substantial evidence for an adverse credibility finding when an applicant is not given the chance to attempt to clarify his or her testimony.” (citation omitted) (emphasis added). Similarly, in Chen v. Ashcroft, 362 F.3d 611, 617 (9th Cir.2004), we explored the IJ’s finding that the applicant, in her testimony, had not “offered a ‘reasonable explanation’ as to why she and her husband did not request official permission from state family planning authorities to have their first child.” We focused on the fact that
[t]he IJ did not question her further concerning her failure to request permission to become pregnant. Instead, he moved on to another subject, leaving this court to speculate whether Mrs. Chen did not fully understand the nature of the question due to the difficulties of translation, or whether she had feared that a fine would be assessed immediately, or worse, that she would have been required to abort her child.
Id. at 618 (emphasis added).
In view of the translation difficulties and the vague nature of the applicant’s response, we understandably concluded that the IJ should have afforded the applicant an opportunity to explain any perceived inconsistencies in her testimony in response to questions posed by the IJ. See id.
In this case, there has been no assertion that Suntharalinkam’s testimony was vague or unclear. Neither was there a hint of translation difficulties.3 Suntharalinkam testified clearly and directly that he was treated for injuries sustained when he was beaten. Yet his documentary evidence reflects treatment for hepatitis rather than for injuries sustained in a beating. In this circumstance, our precedent does not mandate that the IJ explicitly question the applicant further about a discrepancy *1052between the applicant’s testimony and documentary evidence offered to support that testimony. See Singh, 367 F.3d at 1143, This is especially true when one considers the fact that Guo and Chen imposed the requirement of giving the applicant the opportunity to clarify his testimony when that testimony is in response to questions posed by the IJ. See Guo, 361 F.3d at 1200 (discussing a “colloquy between the IJ and [the witness]”); see also Chen, 362 F.3d at 618 (referring to questioning by the IJ).
The majority concedes that the IJ appropriately assessed credibility in view of all the evidence presented. Majority Opinion at 1045-46. Yet, the majority does not consider the cumulative discrepancies as adequate to support an adverse credibility determination. See. id. My view is exactly the opposite. I consider each of the discrepancies discussed above as adequate to sustain the IJ’s credibility determination, when viewed through the extremely deferential lens we must don. See Malhi, 336 F.3d at 993. " As I am not of the view that we are compelled to find Suntharalinkam credible, I would deny his petition.

. Although the majority opinion refers to "translation difficulties apparent in the transcript,” Majority Opinion at 1043, no reference to translation difficulties was made by the Petitioner.