Fathalla

MEMORANDUM **

Mona Najib Fathalla, a native and citizen of Iraq, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (BIA) decision summarily affirming the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1252 (b)(2), and we deny the petition in part, grant in part, dismiss in part, and remand to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Where the BIA affirms the IJ’s decision without opinion, the panel reviews the IJ’s decision as the agency’s final determination. Ndom v. Ashcroft, 384 F.3d 743, 750 (9th Cir.2004). We review adverse credibility determinations for substantial evidence. Singh v. Gonzales, 439 F.3d 1100, 1105 (9th Cir.2006). The IJ “must identify specific, cogent reasons for an adverse credibility finding, and the reasons must be substantial and legitimately connected to the finding.” Id. (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).

Substantial evidence supports the IJ’s adverse credibility finding. There were material inconsistencies at the core of Fathalla’s asylum claim. For example, in her first…