Biyun Yu v. Holder

MEMORANDUM **

Biyun Yu, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence factual findings, Zhu v. Mukasey, 537 F.3d 1034, 1038 (9th Cir.2008), and we review for abuse of discretion the IJ’s discretionary denial of asylum, Gulla v. Gonzales, 498 F.3d 911, 915-16 (9th Cir.2007). We grant the petition for review.

Substantial evidence does not support the agency’s adverse credibility determination because the inconsistencies cited by the IJ are either not supported by the record, based on speculation, or relate to testimony or documents about which Yu was not provided an opportunity to explain. See Soto-Olarte v. Holder, 555 F.3d 1089, 1091-92 (9th Cir.2009) (adverse credibility finding unsupported where petitioner not given an opportunity to explain); He v. Ashcroft, 328 F.3d 593, 600 (9th Cir.2003) (adverse credibility finding not supported where IJ misstated the evidence).…