NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION
File Name: 09a0101n.06
Filed: February 6, 2009
No. 07-4446
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
YAHYA AL KEBSI, et al., )
)
Petitioners, )
)
v. ) ON APPEAL FROM THE BOARD
) OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS
MICHAEL B. MUKASEY, United States Attorney )
General, )
)
Respondent. )
)
)
Before: NORRIS, ROGERS, and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.
KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge. Yahya Al Kebsi petitions for review of the Board of
Immigration Appeals’ denial of his motion to reopen his asylum claim. Al Kebsi argues that his
motion was supported by new evidence that rebuts findings by the Immigration Judge and the Board
that he was not credible. We disagree, and affirm.
I.
Yahya Al Kebsi, his wife Naiwa Mohammed, and their two children are citizens of Yemen
who were admitted as non-immigrant visitors to the United States on August 7, 2000. They
overstayed their visas, however, and were charged as removable aliens under Immigration and
Nationality Act (INA) § 237(a)(1)(B) on December 12, 2001.
No. 07-4446-AG
Al Kebsi et al. v. Mukasey
Al Kebsi applied for asylum pursuant to INA § 208(a), alleging that he had been persecuted
in Yemen for his Quarishi ethnicity, his political views, and because he was a suspected spy. An
asylum officer did not believe him, and referred the matter to an immigration judge (IJ). The IJ held
two hearings, during which Al Kebsi again stated that Yemeni authorities had persecuted him for
spying. But Al Kebsi admitted that, during the period of this alleged persecution, he worked for the
state-owned Yemeni national airline and was permitted to leave the country twice. Citing these
inconsistencies, the IJ found that Al Kebsi was not credible and denied his application.
Al Kebsi appealed the IJ’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which adopted and
affirmed the IJ’s decision. The Board also noted additional inconsistencies in Al Kebsi’s testimony,
namely, that, according to his putative birth documentation, Al Kebsi would have been 11 and 14
years old, respectively, at the times he claimed to have joined the Yemeni Army and traveled to the
United States for military training. Al Kebsi did not seek judicial review of the Board’s decision.
Al Kebsi thereafter filed a motion to reopen his asylum claim with the Board, citing allegedly
new evidence of civil strife in Yemen. The Board denied the motion.
This petition followed.
II.
We review the Board’s denial of a motion to reopen for abuse of discretion. Allabani v.
Gonzales, 402 F.3d 668, 676 (6th Cir. 2005). Among the grounds on which the Board may deny a
motion to reopen is that the movant has not established a prima facie case for asylum. See I.N.S.
v. Abudu, 485 U.S. 94, 104 (1988). To establish a prima facie case for asylum, Al Kebsi must
produce evidence that he has suffered past persecution or has a well-founded fear of future
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No. 07-4446-AG
Al Kebsi et al. v. Mukasey
persecution. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A). A determination that an applicant is not credible with
respect to the circumstances of his alleged persecution may preclude him from establishing a prima
facie case. See Yu v. Ashcroft, 364 F.3d 700, 703 (6th Cir. 2004).
Here, both the IJ and the Board found Al Kebsi’s testimony not to be credible. “We review
adverse credibility determinations under the substantial evidence test.” Shkabari v. Gonzales, 427
F.3d 324, 329 (6th Cir. 2005) (citation omitted). Al Kebsi contends that his newly-offered
evidence—most of which documents alleged civil strife in Yemen—rebuts the Board’s and IJ’s
determinations that he was not credible. But none of this evidence rebuts the findings of the IJ and
the Board that Al Kebsi was not credible with respect to his own circumstances, including his
alleged persecution. We therefore have no basis to conclude that those findings were not supported
by substantial evidence. The findings of non-credibility therefore stand; and thus Al Kebsi cannot
establish a prima facie case for asylum. Consequently, the Board did not abuse its discretion in
denying his motion.
III.
For these reasons, we affirm the Board’s denial of Al Kebsi’s motion to reopen.
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