Harun Rashid v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Harun AR Rashid (Rashid) petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) dismissal of his appeal of the immigration judge’s (IJ) order denying Rashid’s applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Rashid contends that the BIA erred in affirming the IJ’s adverse credibility determination premised on inconsistencies between Rashid’s testimony and his asylum application.

The BIA’s adverse credibility determination was supported by substantial evidence because the major discrepancy between Rashid’s testimony and his asylum application concerning the alleged acts of persecution went to the heart of Rashid’s asylum claim. Most significantly, Rashid’s application asserts that he was subjected to persecution due to his purported efforts to convert poor Muslims to the Christian and Hindu religions. However, at his asylum hearing Rashid testified that as a member of the Awami League, he assisted poor Christian and Hindu children with their subsistence needs, which led to his persecution. See Zamanov v. Holder, 649 F.3d 969, 973 (9th Cir.2011) (holding that “Material alterations in the…