Opinion
No. 13-73373
01-26-2016
PIARA SINGH, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General, Respondent.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
Agency No. A078-674-976 MEMORANDUM On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Before: CANBY, TASHIMA, and NGUYEN, Circuit Judges.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Piara Singh, a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' ("BIA") order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge's ("IJ") decision denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review for substantial evidence the agency's adverse credibility finding. See Mousa v. Mukasey, 530 F.3d 1025, 1027 (9th Cir. 2008). We grant the petition for review and remand.
The BIA affirmed the IJ's adverse credibility finding based on discrepancies between Singh's testimony and documentary evidence and unresponsive answers during cross-examination. Substantial evidence does not support the agency's adverse credibility determination because the discrepancies were either reasonably explained or did not go to the heart of Singh's claim, see id. at 1027-29; see also Chebchoub v. INS, 257 F.3d 1038, 1043 (9th Cir. 2001), and the record does not support the finding that Singh was unresponsive, see Jibril v. Gonzales, 423 F.3d 1129, 1137 (9th Cir. 2005).
Thus, we grant the petition and remand Singh's claims to the agency, on an open record, for further proceedings consistent with this disposition. See INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16-18 (2002) (per curiam); see also Soto-Olarte v. Holder, 555 F.3d 1089, 1095 (9th Cir. 2009).
PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED; REMANDED.