Xinshu Chen v. Gonzales

MEMORANDUM **

Xinshu Chen, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing her appeal from an immigration judge’s order denying her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review findings of fact for substantial evidence and questions of law de novo, Baballah v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 1067, 1073 (9th Cir.2003). We grant in part and deny in part the petition for review, and remand.

Substantial evidence does not support the agency’s adverse credibility determination. First, the confusion in Chen’s testimony regarding whether she was arrested in 1998 stemmed from a translation error. See He v. Ashcroft, 328 F.3d 593, 598 (9th Cir.2003) (“Even where there is no due process violation, faulty or unreliable translations can undermine the evidence on which an adverse credibility determination is based.”). Second, Chen’s inability to recall the precise length of her detention 14 years earlier is not substantial evidence upon which an adverse credibility finding can be based. See Singh v. Gonzales, 403 F.3d…