Krasniqi v. Holder

09-0131-ag Krasniqi v. Holder BIA Ferris, IJ A098 772 002 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL. 1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan 3 United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of 4 New York, on the 1 st day of February, two thousand ten. 5 6 PRESENT: 7 DENNIS JACOBS, 8 Chief Judge, 9 ROGER J. MINER, 10 GERARD E. LYNCH, 11 Circuit Judges. 12 13 _______________________________________ 14 15 GJELIL KRASNIQI, 16 Petitioner, 17 18 v. 09-0131-ag 19 NAC 20 ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., UNITED STATES 21 ATTORNEY GENERAL, 22 Respondent. 23 _______________________________________ 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 FOR PETITIONER: Joshua E. Bardavid, New York, New 2 York. 3 4 FOR RESPONDENT: Tony West, Assistant Attorney 5 General, Civil Division; Carl H. 6 McIntyre, Jr., Assistant Director; 7 Kate D. Balaban, Trial Attorney, 8 Office of Immigration Litigation, 9 United States Department of Justice, 10 Washington, D.C. 11 12 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a 13 Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby 14 ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED, that the petition for review 15 is DENIED. 16 Gjelil Krasniqi, a native and citizen of Serbia, seeks 17 review of a December 15, 2008 order of the BIA, affirming 18 the September 24, 2007 decision of Immigration Judge (“IJ”) 19 Noel Ferris, which denied his application for asylum, 20 withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention 21 Against Torture (“CAT”). In re Gjelil Krasniqi, No. A098 22 772 002 (B.I.A. Dec. 15, 2008), aff’g No. A098 772 002 23 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City Sept. 24, 2007). We assume the 24 parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts and 25 procedural history in this case. 26 Under the circumstances of this case, we review both 27 the BIA’s and the IJ’s decisions. See Yun-Zui Guan v. 28 Gonzales, 432 F.3d 391, 394 (2d Cir. 2005) (per curiam). 2 1 The applicable standards of review are well-settled. 8 2 U.S.C. 3 § 1252(b)(4)(B); see also Corovic v. Mukasey, 519 F.3d 90, 4 95 (2d Cir. 2008). 5 Substantial evidence supports the agency’s adverse 6 credibility determination. The IJ reasonably noted that, 7 although Krasiniqi claimed to understand the interpreter, 8 his testimony was “confused,” and throughout his hearing, he 9 failed to answer questions directly or coherently. We defer 10 to the IJ’s assessment of Krasniqi’s demeanor. See Majidi 11 v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 77, 81 n.1 (2d Cir. 2005). In 12 addition, the IJ highlighted several discrepancies present 13 in the record, including an inconsistency as to the date on 14 which Krasniqi’s cousin was allegedly murdered and the 15 omission of an alleged persecutory event from Krasniqi’s 16 asylum application. The IJ reasonably found that these 17 material discrepancies undermined Krasniqi’s credibility. 18 See, e.g., Dong v. Ashcroft, 406 F.3d 110 (2d Cir. 2005) 19 (per curiam). Moreover, no reasonable fact-finder would 20 have been compelled to accept Krasniqi’s explanations that 21 these discrepancies were a mere oversight or an error on the 22 part of others. See Majidi, 430 F.3d at 81. 3 1 Ultimately, because the only evidence of a threat to 2 Krasniqi’s life or freedom depended upon his credibility, 3 the adverse credibility determination in this case 4 necessarily precludes success on his claim for asylum, 5 withholding of removal and CAT relief. See Paul v. 6 Gonzales, 444 F.3d 148, 156 (2d Cir. 2006); see also Wu Biao 7 Chen v. I.N.S., 344 F.3d 272, 275-76 (2d Cir. 2003) (per 8 curiam). 9 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is 10 DENIED. As we have completed our review, any stay of 11 removal that the Court previously granted in this petition 12 is VACATED, and any pending motion for a stay of removal in 13 this petition is DISMISSED as moot. Any pending request for 14 oral argument in this petition is DENIED in accordance with 15 Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second 16 Circuit Local Rule 34(b). 17 FOR THE COURT: 18 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 19 20 21 4