Matter of Y-H-L-

Summary

The Board of Immigration Appeals denied the respondent’s motions to reconsider and reopen her denied applications for asylum and withholding of removal. The Board held that the Immigration Judge properly required reasonably available corroboration for the respondent’s testimony concerning an alleged forced abortion in China and properly determined that relevant medical records were reasonably obtainable. The Board also rejected the respondent’s ineffective-assistance claims, concluding that prior counsel reasonably relied on a certified translation and that the remaining allegations did not establish prejudice.

Holdings

1. Reconsideration was not warranted because the respondent failed to identify an error of fact or law in the Board's prior determination that the Immigration Judge properly required corroboration of her limited-weight, unpersuasive testimony.
2. The Immigration Judge properly found that checkup books or medical records documenting the alleged abortion or follow-up care were reasonably obtainable, and the Board discerned no clear error in that finding.
3. Reopening was not warranted because the respondent failed to establish ineffective assistance of counsel or a reasonable likelihood that the outcome would have been different absent the alleged errors.

Questions Presented

1. Whether reconsideration was warranted because the Immigration Judge and Board improperly required corroboration of the respondent's otherwise credible but unpersuasive testimony.
2. Whether the Immigration Judge clearly erred in finding that medical records or checkup books corroborating the alleged forced abortion were reasonably obtainable.
3. Whether the respondent established ineffective assistance of counsel sufficient to warrant reopening based on counsel's reliance on a certified translation and other alleged omissions.

Disposition

other