Khudaverdyan v. Holder, No. 10-73346 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePetitioners sought asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). The lead petitioner asserted that he was detained, beat, and threatened by Armenian military police after he was seen talking to a reporter following a personal confrontation with the city’s military police chief. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denied all relief. A panel of the Ninth Circuit granted Petitioners’ petition for review in part as to the asylum and withholding claims, holding (1) the BIA erred by failing to consider whether the lead petitioner was harmed on account of an imputed political opinion or his imputed whistleblowing; and (2) substantial evidence supported the denial of Petitioners’ claims based on actual political opinion, as well as the denial of Petitioners’ claims under the CAT. Remanded.
Court Description: Immigration. The panel granted, in part, a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of asylum and withholding of removal, holding that the Board erred by failing to consider whether the lead petitioner had established the requisite nexus to a protected ground based on his imputed whistleblowing, and denied the petition, in part, holding that substantial evidence supported the denial of petitioner’s claims based on actual political opinion, as well as the denial of petitioner’s claims under the Convention Against Torture. The lead petitioner asserted that the Armenian military police detained, beat, and threatened him after he was seen talking to a reporter following a personal confrontation with the city’s military police chief. The panel held that substantial evidence supported the Board’s conclusion that petitioner was not an actual whistleblower, but the Board’s analysis was incomplete, because it failed to address whether he was harmed on account of an imputed political opinion, or his imputed whistleblowing. The panel explained that an applicant may demonstrate persecution on account of imputed political opinion if he or she shows that the persecutor thought that the applicant was attempting to expose corruption in a governing institution and mistreated the applicant as a result, even if the applicant in fact had no such intention. KHUDAVERDYAN V. HOLDER 3 The panel held that substantial evidence supported the denial of CAT protection, and it remanded the asylum and withholding claims for further proceedings. Concurring, Judge Owens wrote separately to emphasize that the United States Department of Justice’s position in this and other immigration cases clashes with its own campaign against foreign corruption. Dissenting, Judge Kleinfeld wrote that the Board did consider petitioner’s claims based on imputed political opinion or imputed whistleblowing, and that the evidence does not compel the conclusion that petitioner was persecuted on that or any other protected basis.
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