Libin Guo v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Libin Guo, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) decision affirming an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We grant in part and deny in part the petition for review.

Substantial evidence does not support the BIA’s adverse credibility finding, nor its alternative finding that Petitioner did not suffer past persecution. The BIA upheld the adverse credibility finding largely on the basis of inconsistencies in Petitioner’s testimony as noted by the IJ. Such inconsistencies are not supported by the record.

One such inconsistency related to medical evidence. Petitioner testified he suffered soft tissue injuries after Chinese police beat and kicked him for about twenty minutes, and demonstrated by raising his left arm as if blocking blows. His corroborating medical evidence shows soft tissue injury on the right side. But, Petitioner never testified that he was beaten on his left side and, even assuming there is a perceivable inconsistency between his demonstration in court and the medical…