Stepanyan

MEMORANDUM *

Vahan Stepanyan (“Stepanyan”), a native and citizen of Armenia, seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision upholding the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Because the BIA committed significant factual and legal errors in the course of its asylum analysis, we grant Stepanyan’s petition in part, and remand the case for further proceedings.

The IJ found that Stepanyan testified credibly about the abuse he suffered at the hands of the Armenian National Security Service (“NSS”), and determined that he had experienced past persecution on account of his political opinion. The BIA affirmed these findings. Under the regulations governing asylum, this entitled Stepanyan to a presumption that he had a well-founded fear of persecution should he return to Armenia. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13 (b)(1).

The BIA held that the Department of Homeland Security successfully rebutted this presumption for two reasons: (1) Stepanyan unreasonably believed that a stolen car that crashed into his store in Armenia involved an NSS threat, and (2) the Armenian political landscape had…