Samson Eshete Getachew v. Immigration & Naturalization Service
Opinion
Opinion
Pregerson, J.
Opinion by Judge PREGERSON.
I. OVERVIEW
Samson Getachew, a native and citizen of Ethiopia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s denial of his applications for asylum and withholding of deportation under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158 and 1253(h). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a)(l). We grant the petition for review.
II. BACKGROUND
Samson Getachew arrived on our shores from Ethiopia in March of 1985 at the age of .seventeen, initially entering the United States via a tourist visa. Six months later, he enrolled in community college and was granted a student visa.
In January of 1989, Getachew filed an application for asylum with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”). The INS denied his asylum application and a year later charged him with deportability for overstaying his visa. At his deportation hearing, in March of 1991, Getachew conceded deport-ability, but renewed his application for asylum and withholding of deportation. In his affidavit, and in testimony characterized by the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) as “credible and sincere,” Getachew explained the events that led to his arrival in the United States.