Removal

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Ray Fuller v. Loretta E. Lynch

Case No.: 15-3487

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Removal

Application for withholding of removal denied based on ALJ disbelief that appellant was bisexual.

“As we noted earlier, even though some of the IJ’s reasons for disbelieving Fuller on this central point were mistaken (and if that had been all she said, we would have granted this petition), others were sound. The IJ properly highlighted her concerns with Fuller’s inability to recall significant details of the Ocho Rios shooting, which seemed to be the most serious episode in which he claimed to have experienced harm based on his sexual orientation. See Toure v. Holder, 624 F.3d 422, 429 (7th Cir. 2010). The IJ was also concerned that Fuller had testified inconsistently when he frequently confused his sisters’ names, called his sister his mother, and misstated how many sisters he had. The judge was not required to accept Fuller’s excuse that he had made a “mistake” about such basic facts. See Zeqiri v. Mukasey, 529 F.3d 364, 371 (7th Cir. 2008). Also, like the IJ, we are disturbed by Fuller’s misrepresentation on his 2001 immigration application. See Keirkhavash v. Holder, 779 F.3d 440, 442 (7th Cir. 2015). Finally, the IJ adequately explained why she did not credit the letters Fuller submitted or his account of how he obtained them. We conclude that substantial evidence supports the IJ’s conclusion that Fuller did not credibly establish that he is bisexual. See Arrazabal v. Lynch, 822 F.3d 961, 964–65 (7th Cir. 2016). Because we cannot say that any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary (i.e. compelled to conclude that he is indeed bisexual), the agency properly denied Fuller’s application for deferral of removal under the CAT. See Krishnapillai v. Holder, 563 F.3d 606, 621 (7th Cir. 2009).”

Petition Denied

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