United States Third Circuit

In an immigration case involving a citizen of China who claimed he was persecuted as a practitioner of Falun Gong, petition for review of a BIA order of removal is denied where: 1) petitioner failed to expressly raise the issue of the IJ's adverse credibility determination before the BIA, thus failing to exhaust his administrative remedies on that issue; 2) petitioner could not claim to have impliedly raised the credibility issue before the BIA on the basis that, with no corroborating evidence having been presented to the IJ, the IJ's credibility determination was necessarily the only appealable issue; 3) the BIA did consider the credibility determination sua sponte, which exhausted the issue and created a basis for appellate jurisdiction; and 4) substantial evidence supported the IJ's adverse credibility determination.

Appellate Information

• Argued 03/14/2008
• Decided 09/11/2008
• Published 09/11/2008

Judges

• Before:  FUENTES, CHAGARES, and VAN ANTWERPEN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Thomas V. Massucci, (Argued), New York, NY, Counsel for Petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Edward J. Duffy, (Argued), Alison M. Igoe, Peter D. Keisler, Office of Immigration Litigation Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., Counsel for Respondent.