Yasser Tabares Leyva v. Robert Wilkinson ( 2021 )


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  •                               NOT FOR PUBLICATION                        FILED
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                       MAR 10 2021
    MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
    U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    YASSER ABEL TABARES LEYVA,                      No.    20-70762
    Petitioner,                     Agency No. A215-880-364
    v.
    MEMORANDUM*
    ROBERT M. WILKINSON, Acting
    Attorney General,
    Respondent.
    On Petition for Review of an Order of the
    Board of Immigration Appeals
    Submitted March 8, 2021**
    San Francisco, California
    Before: McKEOWN and IKUTA, Circuit Judges, and ERICKSEN,*** District
    Judge.
    Yasser Abel Tabares Leyva, a native and citizen of Cuba, seeks review of
    the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) decision affirming the decision of the
    *
    This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
    except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
    **
    The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
    without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
    ***
    The Honorable Joan N. Ericksen, United States District Judge for the
    District of Minnesota, sitting by designation.
    Immigration Judge (IJ) to deny Tabares’ application for asylum. We have
    jurisdiction under 
    8 U.S.C. § 1252
    (a)(1) and we deny the petition for review.
    The IJ’s adverse credibility finding was supported by substantial evidence.
    There were sufficient indicia of reliability to permit the BIA and us to consider
    Tabares’ sworn statements in his I-877 form and the Customs and Border
    Protection officer’s report on form I-213. See Mukulumbutu v. Barr, 
    977 F.3d 924
    ,
    926 (9th Cir. 2020); Angov v. Lynch, 
    788 F.3d 893
    , 905 (9th Cir. 2015) (“The
    presumption of regularity has been applied far and wide to many functions
    performed by government officials.”). Tabares’ assertion in his sworn asylum
    application that his mother and sister had lived in Ecuador for the prior four years
    conflicts with his earlier sworn statement that his parents lived in Cuba. Also,
    Tabares’ initial statement that his sister lived in Georgia conflicts with his
    subsequent sworn testimony that his sister did not live in Georgia. Both the IJ and
    the BIA found that these inconsistencies supported an adverse credibility finding,
    and no “evidence in the record compels” this court to reach “a contrary result.”
    Parussimova v. Mukasey, 
    555 F.3d 734
    , 738 (9th Cir. 2009); 
    8 U.S.C. § 1252
    (b)(4)(B) (agency factual findings “are conclusive unless any reasonable
    adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary.”) Moreover, these
    inconsistencies are not “utterly trivial.” Shrestha v. Holder, 
    590 F.3d 1034
    , 1044
    (9th Cir. 2010) (“When an inconsistency is cited as a factor supporting an adverse
    2
    credibility determination, that inconsistency should not be a mere trivial error such
    as a misspelling.”). Tabares’ other arguments regarding procedural defects in the
    record are unexhausted, so we may not consider them. Barron v. Ashcroft, 
    339 F.3d 814
    , 819 (9th Cir. 2003).
    Absent credible testimony, Tabares’ asylum claim fails. See Farah v.
    Ashcroft, 
    348 F.3d 1153
    , 1156 (9th Cir. 2003). We need not reach Tabares’ other
    arguments.1
    PETITION DENIED.
    1
    Tabares’ motions for stay of removal [Dkt. 1] and to supplement the record [Dkt.
    14] are denied as moot.
    3