Mebrahtu

MEMORANDUM **

Dawit A. Mebrahtu, a native and citizen of Ethiopia, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(1). We review for substantial evidence, see Tawadrus v. Ashcroft, 364 F.3d 1099, 1102 (9th Cir.2004), and we grant the petition for review.

Mebrahtu testified that he fears persecution by the Ethiopian authorities because his parents were born in Eritrea. The IJ found that Mebrahtu’s mother was born in Eritrea, but determined that the evidence regarding his father’s ethnicity was inconsistent. The BIA held that the dispositive issue was Mebrahtu’s father’s nationality, and affirmed the IJ’s denial of relief given Mebrahtu’s failure to corroborate his assertion that his father is Eritrean.

The country conditions reports in the administrative record state that “Ethiopia’s policy of deporting people of Eritrean origin after war between the two countries broke out in May 1998 has now developed into a systematic, countrywide operation to arrest and deport anyone of full or part Eritrean descent.” See…