Afzal

MEMORANDUM *

Muhammad Afzal petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) order affirming an Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a), and we deny the petition for review.

The IJ identified specific and cogent reasons to support her adverse credibility finding, including the inconsistencies between Afzal’s airport interview and later statements. See Kaur v. Ashcroft, 379 F.3d 876, 884 (9th Cir.2004). We recognize that border interviews are suspect sources of impeachment “because of the conditions under which they are taken and because a newly-arriving alien cannot be expected to divulge every detail of the persecution he or she sustained.” Li v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 959, 962-63 (9th Cir. 2004). Afzal’s airport interview, however, did not differ from his later statements in mere details or depth; rather, he expressly denied suffering any persecution in Pakistan and asserted he came to the United States to work. Because of this complete contradiction with his later statements, the IJ “could reasonably conclude that the sworn…