Munyuh v. Garland, No. 19-72890 (9th Cir. 2021)
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Munyuh, a Protestant and anglophone, taught physical education in Cameroon before fleeing to the U.S. She was tortured by police, who suspected her of membership in the SCNC, an anglophone separatist group, and escaped with the help of her husband. Her 14-year-old son and husband still live in Cameroon. She was denied asylum and related relief on adverse credibility grounds.
The Ninth Circuit vacated the order of removal and remanded. The immigration judge erred by failing to give specific, cogent reasons for rejecting Munyuh’s reasonable, plausible explanations for the discrepancies tied to her declaration concerning the distance she traveled in a police truck before escaping on foot after officers raped her and being rescued by her husband. The IJ further erred by discounting Munyuh’s supporting documentation without giving her adequate notice and the opportunity to provide corroborative evidence. The “IJ seemed determined to pick every nit she could find” and discounted probative evidence on flimsy grounds, displaying “a dubious understanding of how rape survivors ought to act.”
Court Description: Immigration. The panel granted Mirabel Munyuh’s petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals denying asylum and related relief on adverse credibility grounds, vacated the order of removal, and remanded for further proceedings. The panel held that the immigration judge erred by failing to give specific, cogent reasons for rejecting Munyuh’s reasonable, plausible explanations for the discrepancies tied to her declaration concerning the distance she traveled in a police truck before escaping on foot after officers raped her and being rescued by her husband. The panel held that the IJ further erred by discounting Munyuh’s supporting documentation without giving her adequate notice and opportunity to provide corroborative evidence. The panel wrote that from its reading of the record, the IJ seemed determined to pick every nit she could find. Besides erring procedurally, the IJ discounted probative evidence on flimsy grounds and displayed a dubious understanding of how rape survivors ought to act. The panel explained that although it gives great deference to the IJ as factfinder, substantial-evidence review does not require it to credit the credibility finding of an IJ who cherry-picks from—or misconstrues—the record to reach it. Rather, the IJ must consider the totality of the circumstances, and all MUNYUH V. GARLAND 3 relevant factors. The panel therefore vacated the removal order and remanded the case to the Board for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.
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