Stepanian

MEMORANDUM *

Mayak Stepanian, a native of Iran and an adherent of the Armenian Christian faith, appeals from the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) affirmance of the Immigration Judge’s (“U”) order denying asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and we vacate and remand to the BIA for clarification.

1. We cannot meaningfully review the BIA’s decision because the BIA is unclear as to the standard of review it applies to the IJ’s decision. The BIA first purports to review the IJ’s decision for clear error. In such cases, “we review ... the reasons explicitly identified by the BIA, and then examine the reasoning articulated in the IJ’s oral decision in support of those reasons.” Tekle v. Mukasey, 533 F.3d 1044, 1051 (9th Cir.2008). The BIA also cites Matter of Burbano, 20 I. & N. Dec. 872 (BIA 1994), however, which suggests that the BIA “adopts the IJ’s decision in its entirety,” Arreguin-Moreno v. Mukasey, 511 F.3d 1229, 1232 (9th Cir.2008) (internal quotation marks omitted), and which means that “we review the IJ’s decision as if it were that of the BIA,” Abebe v.…

dissenting:

I respectfully dissent. Although the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) decision was not a model of clarity, it was clear enough to allow meaningful review by this court. I am not particularly troubled by the BIA’s prefatory reference to the clear error standard of review. Indeed, that very reference answers one of the criticisms articulated by the majority — that the BIA failed to mention the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) adverse credibility determination. The BIA’s citation to 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1 (d)(3) (providing that the Board views credibility finding for clear error) and Matter of A-S, 21 I. & N. Dec. 1106, 1109 (BIA 1998) (same) is an obvious reference to the standard the BIA applies when it reviews the IJ’s adverse credibility determination. Unlike the majority, I see nothing inappropriate in the BIA articulating the standard of review, determining that the standard has been satisfied and adopting the IJ’s decision.

The majority disposition also mentions the erroneous listing of Armenia as the country of removal and mistaken citation to the Uganda Country Report. However, the Petitioner did not rely on the erroneous listing of Armenia as the country of removal as a…