Rudi Irawan v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Rudi Irawan, a native and citizen of Indonesia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) determination that he had filed a frivolous application for asylum, and its denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture relief. We deny the petition.

The BIA’s factual determinations can be reversed only if the petitioner can “show that the evidence he presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail” to find the contrary. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812, 817 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992).

(1) Irawan asserts that the BIA erred when it determined that he had filed a frivolous asylum application when he fabricated facts about attacks on his parents’ business properties. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (d)(6); 8 C.F.R. § 1208.20 . We disagree. There can be no doubt that he did just that.

His retraction of the fabricated facts when after years of proceedings it became apparent that his asylum application would be denied and he had found an alternate basis for relief from removal did not preclude a frivolity finding. Moreover, the written warnings in the asylum application were proper…