FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION MAY 11 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
DEEQA MOHAMOUD ADEN, No. 05-76350
Petitioner, Agency No. A075-673-350
v. MEMORANDUM *
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney
General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted March 2, 2010
Pasadena, California
Before: KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge, and
GETTLEMAN, Senior District Judge.**
The IJ based his adverse credibility finding on two grounds: petitioner’s
description of the attack on her family’s home in Somalia and her testimony about
her life as a refugee in Kenya. The IJ must have a “legitimate articulable basis to
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The Honorable Robert W. Gettleman, Senior United States District
Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation.
question the petitioner’s credibility, and must offer a specific, cogent reason for
any stated disbelief.” Shah v. I.N.S., 220 F.3d 1062, 1067 (9th Cir. 2002) (internal
citations omitted). We reverse the IJ’s adverse credibility determination because
we are “compelled to conclude to the contrary.” Farah v. Ashcroft, 348 F.3d 1153,
1156 (9th Cir. 2003); 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B).
First, petitioner testified consistently, during her interview with the Asylum
Officer almost immediately after arrival in this country and then during her hearing
before the IJ, about what happened when gunmen attacked her family at their home
in Somalia. Both times she testified that they shot and killed her brother when he
tried to protect her sister from being raped, and that they hit her father. Her written
statement, prepared in English by someone other than petitioner (whose English is
limited), states that the gunmen shot and killed her brother, though not in the same
manner, and states that they wounded her father by gunfire. Petitioner explained at
her hearing before the IJ that the preparer might have mistakenly understood “hit”
to mean shot. The discrepancy between petitioner’s consistent oral testimony and
her written statement do not support an adverse credibility finding.
Second, petitioner’s testimony about what happened after arrival in Kenya
does not support an adverse credibility finding. Petitioner’s testimony about her
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life and that of her family in the refugee camp and in Nairobi was consistent and
credible.
The government agrees, in light of our intervening decision in Maharaj v.
Gonzales, 450 F.3d 961 (9th Cir. 2006) (en banc), that if we reverse the adverse
credibility finding we should remand on the question of firm resettlement.
We reverse the adverse credibility finding, grant the petition, and remand for
further proceedings.
Petition GRANTED.
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