Harjit Shanta v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Harjit Shanta, also known as Harjit Kaur, (Shanta) a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) termination of her asylee status and rejection of her claims for withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We deny her petition for review.

Shanta contends that substantial evidence did not support the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) adverse credibility finding, which was relied upon by the BIA. This is a pre-REAL ID Act case, and the IJ properly provided “specific, cogent reasons to support his [adverse-credibility] determination” that went “to the heart of [Shanta’s] claim.” Don v. Gonzales, 476 F.3d 738, 741 (9th Cir.2007) (quoting Desta v. Ashcroft, 365 F.3d 741, 745 (9th Cir.2004)). The IJ’s adverse-credibility determination was justified based on inconsistencies in Shanta’s testimony about her family that related to her story seeking asylum. At her initial hearing, Shanta claimed that her husband Sukhwinder had been repeatedly arrested and abused by Indian police at their home when those police came to look for her after she fled India. But she later admitted that her husband had been…