Rai

MEMORANDUM **

The record in this case shows that neither the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) nor the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) made an express determination as to Petitioner Hakumat Singh Rai’s credibility. Because credibility was central to the IJ’s decision to deny Singh’s petition for asylum, we are required by INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12 , 123 S.Ct. 353 , 154 L.Ed.2d 272 (2002), to remand to the IJ for a legally sufficient finding on this issue.

Petitioner is a Sikh from the Punjab region of India; his petition for asylum rests in large part on his claim that he was a victim of past persecution in his country of origin on account of his religion and political opinion. The IJ’s determination that Petitioner had failed to meet his burden with regard to a demonstration of past persecution appears to have been based on an implicit adverse credibility finding:

However, the IJ declined to make a specific finding that Petitioner was not credible, stating instead that:

On appeal, rather than recognize credibility as the determinative issue regarding Petitioner’s claims of past persecution and *37 accordingly remand to the IJ to make an express credibility determination, see…