FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION NOV 09 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ARARAT MITOYAN, No. 07-74407
Petitioner, Agency No. A098-522-659
v.
MEMORANDUM*
ERIC H. HOLDER JR., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted October 25, 2011**
San Francisco, California
Before: GRABER and IKUTA, Circuit Judges, and QUIST,*** Senior District
Judge.
Petitioner Ararat Mitoyan asks us to review an order of the Board of
Immigration Appeals ("BIA") returning him to his native Armenia. Petitioner
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable Gordon J. Quist, Senior United States District Judge for
the Western District of Michigan, sitting by designation.
asserts that the BIA erred in failing to consider whether his alleged mistreatment
constituted torture under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT") and in affirming
the adverse credibility finding of the immigration judge ("IJ").
1. We lack jurisdiction to address Petitioner’s claim that the BIA erred
when it failed to consider whether Petitioner’s alleged mistreatment by Armenian
Internal Affairs officers constituted torture under the CAT. We have jurisdiction to
decide an issue only if it was exhausted in the administrative proceedings below.
Zara v. Ashcroft, 383 F.3d 927, 930 (9th Cir. 2004). The only issues raised in
Petitioner’s appeal to the BIA related to the IJ’s adverse credibility determination
and denial of asylum, and those are the only issues the BIA addressed in its
opinion.1
2. Because the BIA explicitly adopted the IJ’s credibility analysis, citing In
re Burbano, 20 I. & N. Dec. 872 (B.I.A. 1994), we review the IJ’s adverse
credibility determination as if it were that of the BIA. Rizk v. Holder, 629 F.3d
1083, 1087 (9th Cir. 2011); Aguilar-Ramos v. Holder, 594 F.3d 701, 704 (9th Cir.
2010). Petitioner filed his application for relief before May 11, 2005, so we apply
pre-REAL ID Act rules. Rizk, 629 F.3d at 1087 n.2.
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The BIA also briefly addressed Petitioner’s competence to testify, but
Petitioner has not raised that issue in this appeal, nor has he produced any evidence
of incompetence.
2
We review the IJ’s adverse credibility determination for substantial
evidence. "We must uphold the IJ’s adverse credibility determination so long as
one of the identified grounds is supported by substantial evidence and goes to the
heart of the alien’s claim of persecution." Id. at 1087 (internal quotation marks and
brackets omitted)).
Here, the IJ identified several grounds for her adverse credibility
determination, including suspicious changes in Petitioner’s demeanor on cross-
examination; internal inconsistency in Petitioner’s testimony on important issues;
and Petitioner’s failure to produce readily available corroborative testimony. For
example, Petitioner testified that he was arrested because of irregularities he
observed during elections, but he did not testify consistently as to what he had
seen. He testified at one point that he never saw money changing hands at the
polls and then later testified that he did see money change hands. Petitioner also
failed to testify consistently regarding his claim that government officials arrested
him because of what he had seen during elections. For example, he testified that
the officials who arrested him "didn’t see [him]" at the elections. When asked
why, then, he "knew [that his] arrest had something to do with what [he] observed
at the . . . polling place," Petitioner responded that it was "natural" that his arrest
was "connected" to what he saw during voting "[b]ecause [he] was arrested after
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the elections." Additionally, Petitioner variously testified that he witnessed
embezzlement in 1987, 1988, or 1991, which caused him to quit the Armenian
National Movement; but he testified in contradiction that he did not join that group
until 1991 or 1999. These inconsistencies went to the heart of his claim of political
persecution. Petitioner also failed, without any cogent explanation, to produce his
wife as a witness, even though she was present when he was allegedly arrested in
their home by Armenian officials; provided bail for his release; and was, at the
time of the removal proceedings, living with Petitioner in California. The IJ gave
Petitioner ample opportunity to explain these inconsistencies, including staying the
proceedings to allow Petitioner to gather additional witnesses and evidence, but
Petitioner failed to provide adequate explanation or corroboration. For instance,
Petitioner testified that he could not answer questions consistently because his
"memory gets erased" because he "ha[s] received emotional harm." In support of
this argument, he submitted a psychologist’s letter diagnosing him with depression
and post-traumatic stress disorder. The letter, however, does not state that the
alleged disorders affected Petitioner’s ability to testify consistently. In fact, it does
not mention his ability to testify at all. Therefore, the IJ properly found that it is an
insufficient explanation for Petitioner’s inconsistent testimony. Because we
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conclude that the IJ’s adverse credibility determination was supported by
substantial evidence, we must deny the petition.
Petition DENIED.
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