Guo Song Lin v. Holder

MEMORANDUM **

Petitioner Guo Song Lin petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision denying his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CAT”). The BIA denied all forms of relief, relying on only one of the immigration judge’s three justifications for finding Petitioner not credible: that Petitioner’s Chinese Resident Identification Card was counterfeit.

We review an adverse credibility finding for substantial evidence. Singh v. Gonzales, 439 F.3d 1100, 1105 (9th Cir.2006). Athough this standard is highly deferential, the reason identified for disbelieving a petitioner’s testimony must “strike at the heart of the claim.” Id. (quoting Li v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 959, 964 (9th Cir.2004)). “An inconsistency goes to the heart of a claim if it concerns events central to petitioner’s version of why he was persecuted and fled.” Singh, 439 F.3d at 1108 .

In this case, the Resident Identification Card did not go to the heart of Petitioner’s claim. As in Chen v. INS, 266 F.3d 1094 (9th Cir.2001), overruled on other grounds by…