Immigration – Asylum – Zimbabwe

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U.S. Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Immigration – Asylum – Zimbabwe

Where the BIA did not adequately consider whether more corroborating information was reasonably available, it was error to find that an asylum claimant failed to show past persecution.

“Evidence of country conditions ‘cannot substitute for an individualized determination of an asylum or withholding claim,’ Zheng v. Gonzales, 409 F.3d 804, 811 (7th Cir. 2005). Sibanda, as we have explained, could not reasonably have presented more corroborating evidence than she did. That fact means that there can be no avoiding a careful assessment of her credibility. The IJ did only half of the job: he found that the bride-price was paid, but he bypassed the question whether her account of the duties imposed by bride-price and the attacks she suffered was credible. The Board assumed Sibanda’s credibility on all issues, but then it unreasonably demanded corroboration. The IJ must determine whether Sibanda’s account of her duties under local law and custom to Major Sibanda is accurate and whether her testimony about his attacks is credible. If he finds her credible on these matters, that is enough to show past persecution.”

Petition Granted.

14-2157 Sibanda v. Holder

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals, Wood, J.

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