Hakobyan

MEMORANDUM

Hakob Hakobyan, a native and citizen of Armenia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) final order affirming the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) adverse credibility finding. We deny the petition.

In this pre-REAL ID Act case, the IJ’s adverse credibility determination will be upheld only if supported by substantial evidence. Lei Li v. Holder, 629 F.3d 1154, 1157 (9th Cir.2011). However, we will affirm an adverse credibility determination even if “some of the factors the IJ relied upon are either unsupported or irrelevant, ‘so long as one of the identified grounds is supported by substantial evidence and goes to the heart of [Hako-byan’s] claim of persecution.’ ” Li v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 959, 964 (9th Cir.2004) (quoting Wang v. INS, 352 F.3d 1250, 1257 (9th Cir.2003)) (alterations omitted).

Here, the IJ identified at least two “serious inconsistencies” in Hakobyan’s testimony that “go to the heart of his application.” Alvarez-Santos v. INS, 332 F.3d 1245, 1254 (9th Cir.2003). First, the inconsistency between Hakobyan’s testimony and his prior declaration, regarding the identity of the individuals who attacked him on three separate occasions, is…