Chen

MEMORANDUM

Xiu Yan Chen, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the determinations of an immigration judge (“IJ”) denying Chen’s applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a), and deny the petition.

Substantial evidence in the record supports the IJ’s adverse credibility finding with respect to Chen. Chen failed to mention in her asylum application that her mother had been arrested during the raid on an underground church that Chen claimed was the catalyst for her flight from China. She then relied on her mother’s alleged arrest and subsequent imprisonment, which she mentioned for the first time in her testimony before the IJ, as a principal basis for her claim for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection.

An adverse credibility determination by an IJ may not be based on minor inconsistencies that do not go to the heart of an asylum applicant’s claim. See Li v. Holder, 559 F.3d 1096, 1103 (9th Cir.2009); Mendoza Manimbao v. Ashcroft, 329 F.3d 655, 660 (9th Cir.2003). Here,…