Agustin Mendoza v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Agustín Mendoza Mendoza petitions for review of (1) the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) order dismissing his appeal from the immigration judge’s (IJ) denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT); and (2) the BIA’s order denying his motion to reopen. We grant the petitions and remand to the BIA to reconsider Mendoza’s credibility and his eligibility for asylum, withholding, and relief under CAT.

1. Substantial evidence does not support the IJ’s adverse credibility determination. Under the REAL ID Act, an IJ may base an adverse credibility determination on any relevant factor that reasonably may be said to bear on a petitioner’s veracity. See Shrestha v. Holder, 590 F.3d 1034, 1040-41, 1043-44 (9th Cir.2010). But “trivial inconsistencies that under the total circumstances have no bearing on a petitioner’s veracity should not form the basis of an adverse credibility determination,” id. at 1044 , and we have cautioned that our “analysis on review ... should recognize that the normal limits of human understanding and memory may make some inconsistencies or lack of recall present in any witness’s…