Ganbold Tsegmed v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Ganbold Tsegmed, a native and citizen of Mongolia, petitions for review of the agency’s denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. Tsegmed affirmatively applied for asylum, but the asylum officer, citing inconsistencies in his account and problems with the documentary evidence he submitted, referred his application to an Immigration Judge (“IJ”). After several days of testimony, and after a forensic expert testified that much of Tsegmed’s documentary evidence was not authentic, the IJ found him not credible, denied his application for relief, and ordered him removed. Tsegmed appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“the Board”).

The Board dismissed his appeal, concluding that “sufficient reasons” supported the IJ’s adverse credibility determination, and citing two examples. The Board first cited Tsegmed’s submission of a counterfeit Mongolian driver’s license, which Tsegmed presented in order to support his claim that he had returned to Mongolia for a period following his initial entry into the United States, and experienced persecution while there. The Board provided a second example of grounds that the IJ identified that supported her…