NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JUN 29 2017
ALEXANDER DIAZ MARTINEZ, No. 12-71822 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
Petitioner, Agency No. A071-581-265
v.
MEMORANDUM*
JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted June 5, 2017
Pasadena, California
Before: GRABER, SACK,** and MURGUIA, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner Alexander Diaz-Martinez timely seeks review of the Board of
Immigration Appeals’ ("BIA") dismissal of his appeal of the immigration judge’s
("IJ") order finding him removable. We deny the petition.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
***
The Honorable Robert D. Sack, United States Circuit Judge for the Court
of Appeals for the Second Circuit, sitting by designation.
1. The BIA correctly held that the admission of Petitioner’s earlier
statements and other evidence violated neither 8 C.F.R. § 287.3(c) nor the Fifth
Amendment. Because Petitioner’s earlier statements were made days before the
issuance of the notice to appear, § 287.3(c) does not apply. Samayoa-Martinez v.
Holder, 558 F.3d 897, 901–02 (9th Cir. 2009); In re E-R-M-F-, 25 I. & N. Dec.
580, 582–85 (B.I.A. 2011). "Miranda warnings are not required before questioning
in the context of a civil deportation hearing," United States v. Solano-Godines, 120
F.3d 957, 960 (9th Cir. 1997), and Petitioner has not argued that his statements
were coerced.
2. The BIA correctly held that, unlike in Hernandez-Guadarrama v.
Ashcroft, 394 F.3d 674 (9th Cir. 2005), the admission of earlier statements by
Petitioner’s friend, in this case, was irrelevant to the BIA’s analysis. The BIA
relied only on the testimony of Petitioner and other witnesses at the merits hearing.
3. Substantial evidence supports the agency’s adverse credibility
determination. See Perez-Arceo v. Lynch, 821 F.3d 1178, 1183 (9th Cir. 2016)
(stating standard of review). Petitioner admitted at the merits hearing that he had
lied to border patrol officers about his attempted entry into the United States. See
Silva-Pereira v. Lynch, 827 F.3d 1176, 1187 (9th Cir. 2016) (holding that an
admission of prior dishonesty can support an adverse credibility finding), cert.
2
denied, 137 S. Ct. 1366 (2017). The IJ noted that Petitioner could not explain
adequately why he lied. In view of the implausibility of Petitioner’s testimony,1
the record does not compel the conclusion that Petitioner’s story—that he was an
innocent participant in his friend’s devious plan—was truthful. Accordingly, the
BIA correctly concluded, in light of the adverse credibility finding, that there was
substantial evidence that Petitioner attempted to aid and abet alien smuggling.2
4. The BIA did not err in applying the "clear and convincing" standard
instead of the "clear, unequivocal, and convincing" standard. See Mondaca-Vega
v. Lynch, 808 F.3d 413, 419–22 (9th Cir. 2015) (en banc) (holding that the two
standards are the same), cert. denied, 137 S. Ct. 35 (2016).
Petition DENIED.
1
Petitioner knew that his friend was not a United States citizen and that his
friend’s visa had been cancelled just two weeks earlier, after he tried to walk across
the border.
2
Because we deny the petition on this ground, we need not reach the BIA’s
alternative holding that, crediting Petitioner’s testimony, he engaged in alien
smuggling.
3
FILED
Diaz-Martinez v. Sessions, No. 12-71822 JUN 29 2017
Murguia, Circuit Judge, dissenting in part: MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
I disagree with the majority that the BIA correctly concluded, based on the
adverse credibility determination, that Diaz-Martinez aided alien smuggling. No
party, judge, or court—not the immigration judge, not the BIA, and not the
government on appeal—has argued that the adverse credibility determination
provided the basis for Diaz-Martinez’s conviction of aiding alien smuggling. The
IJ never referenced the adverse credibility determination in its analysis of why
Martinez aided alien smuggling; the BIA explicitly stated that the adverse
credibility finding “is not essential to removability.” Because the agency never
explicitly (or, in my view, implicitly) relied on the adverse credibility
determination for its substantive finding that Diaz-Martinez aided alien smuggling,
I would grant the petition. At the very least, we should have remanded this case to
the BIA to address the significance, if any, of the adverse credibility determination.
The majority relies on Silva-Pereira v. Lynch, 827 F.3d 1176 (9th Cir.
2016), for its conclusion that substantial evidence supported the BIA’s adverse
credibility determination. 1 Silva-Pereira at best stands for the simple notion that a
pre-removal-proceeding lie can “support” an adverse credibility determination that
already is supported by multiple inconsistencies in the petitioner’s asylum
1
Neither party cited or briefed Silva-Pereira.
1
application and testimony before the IJ. Id. at 1185–87. In contrast to the
petitioner in Silva-Pereira, here, the only basis for the adverse credibility
determination is the fabricated story Diaz-Martinez told immigration officials at
secondary inspection. Diaz-Martinez never made an inconsistent or untrue
statement in his filings or testimony before the IJ. The majority elevates Silva-
Pereira to a status not envisioned by that case and with potentially dramatic
unintended consequences.
I have little doubt that a proper adverse credibility determination could
support the BIA’s decision in this case—if the BIA actually relied on the
determination. But the BIA did not do so, and our job is not to supply the agency’s
reasoning for it. In Altamirano v. Gonzales, we refused to consider BIA’s
argument on appeal that the petitioner’s presence in the car provided an air of
normalcy and therefore constituted an affirmative act constituting aiding alien
smuggling, because “[t]his . . . was not the basis for the IJ’s decision.” 427 F.3d
586, 595 (9th Cir. 2005). We explained that “[w]e ‘may not accept appellate
counsel’s post hoc rationalizations for agency action; Chenery requires that an
agency’s discretionary order be upheld, if at all, on the same basis articulated in the
order by the agency itself.’” Id. (quoting Burlington Truck Lines Inc. v. United
States, 371 U.S. 156, 168–69 (1962)). Here, not only does the majority ignore the
2
warning not to permit post hoc rationalizations for agency action, but the majority
doubly errs by actually supplying the post hoc rationalization.
Based on Altamirano, I would grant the petition. At the very least, however,
we should have taken a more cautious approach and remanded the case so that the
agency can explain the significance, if any, of the adverse credibility
determination. Because the majority decision allows for the removal of Diaz-
Martinez based on reasoning that neither the IJ nor the BIA relied on, I must
respectfully dissent.
3