Sagatelyan

Sagatelyan v. Holder

Good Law
478 F. App'x 346
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitApril 19, 201207-71043California675 words

Opinion

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

Lilit Sagatelyan, a native and citizen of Armenia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (CAT) relief. We grant the petition and remand.

The BIA’s determination that an alien is not eligible for asylum must be upheld if “ ‘supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole.’ ” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 , 112 S.Ct. 812, 815 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). “It can be reversed only if the evidence presented ... was such that a reasonable factfinder would have to conclude that the requisite fear of persecution existed.” Id.; see also Farah v. Ashcroft, 348 F.3d 1153, 1156 (9th Cir.2003). When an alien seeks to overturn the BIA’s adverse determination, “he must show that the evidence he presented was so compelling that no reasonable fact-finder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution.” Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. at 483-84 , 112 S.Ct. at 817 . The same standard applies to credibility determinations. See Lanza v. Ashcroft, 389 F.3d 917, 933 (9th Cir.2004); Alvarez-Santos v. INS, 332 F.3d 1245, 1254…

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