Huang v. Boente, 15-2191

Petitioner Yijing Huang, a Chinese national, sought asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief after alleged arrest and detention related to an underground church meeting.
An Immigration Judge denied relief based on an adverse credibility finding; the BIA affirmed on June 16, 2015.
Key disputed facts involved timing of the church service and arrest, whether police arrived during singing or Bible reading, and the length of a second interrogation.
The IJ relied on inconsistencies among Huang’s asylum interview, written application, and courtroom testimony and rejected Huang’s explanations and inability to recall prior statements.
Huang argued the IJ ignored corroborating evidence and raised other challenges to the asylum interview record; the court treated some challenges as unexhausted.
The Second Circuit reviewed the agency record and denied the petition for review, upholding the adverse credibility determination and denying relief.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether IJ’s adverse credibility finding was supported by substantial evidence	Huang argued inconsistencies were minor and explanations (memory lapses) sufficed	Gov’t argued inconsistencies among interview, application, and testimony undermined credibility	Held: Adverse credibility determination upheld; substantial evidence supported it
Whether inconsistencies went to heart of claim and required different treatment under REAL ID Act	Huang contended discrepancies were collateral and immaterial	Gov’t relied on REAL ID Act authority allowing credibility findings based on totality, including collateral inconsistencies	Held: Court affirmed that cumulative collateral inconsistencies can be consequential under REAL ID Act
Whether IJ failed to consider petitioner’s corroborating evidence	Huang argued IJ ignored or failed to parse corroboration	Gov’t/agency asserted IJ considered corroboration and need not expressly refute each item	Held: Rejected Huang’s claim; record indicates IJ considered corroborating evidence
Whether unexhausted challenges to asylum interview record could be entertained on appeal	Huang sought review of reliability of asylum interview record	Gov’t argued issues were unexhausted before the BIA and thus not reviewable	Held: Court declined to consider unexhausted challenges

Xue Hong Yang v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 426 F.3d 520 (2d Cir. 2005) (standards for reviewing IJ/BIA decisions and scope of review)
Xiu Xia Lin v. Mukasey, 534 F.3d 162 (2d Cir. 2008) (REAL ID Act allows credibility findings based on demeanor, plausibility, and inconsistencies)
Tu Lin v. Gonzales, 446 F.3d 395 (2d Cir. 2006) (cumulative effect of collateral inconsistencies can be consequential)
Majidi v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 77 (2d Cir. 2005) (applicant must do more than offer plausible explanations to overcome adverse credibility)
Xiao Ji Chen v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 471 F.3d 315 (2d Cir. 2006) (presumption that IJ considered all evidence unless record suggests otherwise)
Wei Guang Wang v. Bd. of Immigration Appeals, 437 F.3d 270 (2d Cir. 2006) (agency need not expressly address each piece of corroborating evidence)
Lin Zhong v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 480 F.3d 104 (2d Cir. 2007) (issue exhaustion in immigration appeals is required)