Yousif v. Lynch, No. 14-3507 (6th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseYousif, a citizen of Iraq and a Chaldean Christian, entered the U.S. and applied for asylum and withholding of removal in 2007. The immigration judge adjudicated the claims four years later. By that time, the attorney general conceded that conditions in Iraq for Chaldean Christians were so turbulent that there was a clear probability that Yousif would be persecuted based on his religion if he was returned to Iraq. The IJ agreed and granted Yousif withholding of removal. However, the IJ denied Yousif asylum, ruling that Yousif had filed a “frivolous” asylum application, 8 U.S.C. 1158(d)(6), by deliberately fabricating one of its “material elements,” by falsely claiming that he had experienced past incidents of persecution. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed. The Sixth Circuit vacated, observing that generally the burden of proof is more onerous in obtaining withholding of removal than asylum. The IJ did not determine whether, at the time that Yousif submitted his application, contemporary conditions in Iraq were so dangerous for Chaldean Christians that Yousif would have been eligible for asylum based solely upon his religion, and, therefore, failed to determine whether Yousif’s misrepresentations were material to his application when they were made.
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