Lac Nguyen v. Holder

MEMORANDUM *

Lac Nguyen, a native and citizen of Vietnam, petitions for review of the Board of *682 Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) 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 and deny the petition for review.

I.

In his initial asylum application and in his asylum interview, Nguyen acknowledged that, as part of his duties in the South Vietnamese Army, Nguyen sought out and interrogated communists and North Vietnamese sympathizers, including the civilian parents of North Vietnamese soldiers. Nguyen told the asylum officer that his military unit beat individuals in order to extract information, and, if none was forthcoming, they would transfer individuals to “Room 2,” where they were tortured. At his hearing before the immigration judge Nguyen denied having made such statements, despite the asylum officer’s testimony to the contrary and the officer’s notes documenting the interview, which Nguyen had signed. The immigration judge found that Nguyen had not testified credibly at the hearing and denied the application. Nguyen appealed to the BIA, arguing that his testimony…