Er Cai He v. Ashcroft

MEMORANDUM ***

Er Cai He petitions for review of a final order of removal issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”).

I.

The parties are familiar with the facts, so we do not recite them here except as necessary to explain our decision. Mr. He’s uncontradicted testimony was that he was fined in 1992 for the 1990 birth of his second child, and that his wife was forced to undergo an abortion and forcibly sterilized in 1993. Although the Immigration Judge (“U”) found Mr. He’s testimony to be incredible for several reasons, most of those reasons were specifically rejected by the BIA, which did not make an adverse credibility finding with respect to Mr. He’s testimony. The basis of the BIA’s dismissal of Mr. He’s appeal was rather that his testimony was not so specific, detailed or credible that it could meet Mr. He’s burden of proof without corroboration, which was lacking. While the BIA’s decision regarding the weaknesses in the corroborating evidence is supported by the record, its holding that Mr. He’s detailed and uncontradicted testimony alone was insufficient to establish his entitlement to asylum is not. Accordingly, we grant the petition, reverse the decision of the…