Arulnanthy v. Garland, No. 19-60760 (5th Cir. 2021)
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Arulnanthy, part of Sri Lanka’s Tamil ethnic minority, entered the U.S. through Mexic in 2018. He was immediately apprehended. An asylum officer conducted a credible-fear interview, 8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(B). Arulnanthy described two 2018 encounters with the Sri Lanka Police after officials discovered that Arulnanthy was planning to participate in a local election as a member of the Tamil Party. The first encounter involved detention and beating. The asylum officer determined that Arulnanthy had established a credible fear of persecution based on his political opinion. Arulnanthy indicated that he intended to apply for asylum and withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). His application's description of his police encounters differed from his previous account. Arulnanthy submitted documentary evidence, some pertaining to his police encounters, and the rest concerning country conditions in Sri Lanka, particularly the situation facing many Tamils.
The IJ denied relief, finding that Arulnanthy was not a credible witness based on three omissions and discrepancies. The BIA dismissed Arulnanthy’s appeal. In 2020, Arulnanthy was removed from the United States. The Fifth Circuit remanded, first holding that the appeal was not mooted by Arulnanthy’s removal. The adverse credibility finding was fatal to Arulnanthy’s asylum claim but not to his CAT claim. The BIA violated the CAT regulations by ignoring Arulnanthy’s hundreds of pages of evidence about country conditions in Sri Lanka.
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