Wenhui Dong v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Wenhui Dong, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence. Zehatye v. Gonzales, 453 F.3d 1182, 1184-85 (9th Cir.2006). We deny in part and grant in part the petition for review, and we remand.

Substantial evidence does not support the IJ’s adverse credibility determination because the IJ’s finding that Dong conceded the identification number on his college massage certificate was fraudulent ignores Dong’s testimony that he did not know why the college identification number was given to him that way. See Paramasamy v. Ashcroft, 295 F.3d 1047, 1052-54 (9th Cir.2002) (rejecting the BIA’s reliance on “perceived inconsistencies not based on the evidence”). Moreover, the IJ engaged in impermissible speculation regarding whether the college Dong attended uses the national identification number as the student identification number, what documents are required to…