Asylum and Its Discontents in the United States
The Ninth Circuit recently examined “the distinction between an applicant for asylum whose testimony lacks credibility and one who has ‘deliberately fabricated’ material aspects of her application. See Liu v. Holder, No. 08-72849 (9th Cir. Feb. 23, 2011). The Court held: “[A]n asylum application is frivolous if any of its material elements is deliberately fabricated.” … Read more
In a strongly-worded dissenting opinion, Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court wrote that an immigration attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to ask her client about whether the client had been subject to female genital mutilation (“FGM”). In Teclezghi v. Holder, Nos. 07-70661 & 07-71463 (9th Cir. Jan. … Read more
A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit reveals how attorney error can destroy an alien’s asylum case. In Singh v. Holder, No. 08-70434 (9th Cir. April 19, 2010), the Ninth Circuit concluded that an IJ may require corroborating evidence even where an alien has testified credibly. In the underlying case, the question before the IJ was whether Mr. Singh had … Read more