Ezeagwuna v. Ashcroft

Decision Date14 April 2003
Docket NumberNo. 01-3294.,01-3294.
Citation325 F.3d 396
PartiesGlory Obianuju EZEAGWUNA, Petitioner v. John ASHCROFT, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Sidney S. Rosdeitcher, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, New York, for Petitioner Glory Obianuju Ezeagwuna.

Michael T. Dougherty, United States Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, Richard M. Evans, Terri J. Scadron, John M. McAdams, Jr., Donald E. Keener, Francis W. Fraser, United States Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, Brian G. Slocum, United States Department of Justice, Washington, for Respondent John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States.

James C. La Forge, Chadbourne & Parke, Upper Montclair, for Amicus-Appellant Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

Before: BECKER, Chief Judge, SCIRICA, and RENDELL, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

RENDELL, Circuit Judge.

Glory Obianuju Ezeagwuna ("Ms. Obianuju"), a citizen of Cameroon, seeks political asylum and withholding of deportation. She claims to have been persecuted because of her membership in two political organizations in Cameroon that represent the interests of the English-speaking minority population. The Immigration Judge ("IJ") denied her application, and the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA" or "Board") dismissed her appeal. The BIA also denied Ms. Obianuju's motion to supplement the record with four additional pieces of evidence.

The BIA's dismissal was based on a finding that Ms. Obianuju had submitted fraudulent documents and therefore was not credible. The BIA relied almost entirely on a letter from the Department of State that contained the conclusions of an investigation in Cameroon. In an original opinion on appeal, we concluded that reliance on this letter denied Ms. Obianuju her due process rights and undermined the fundamental fairness of the administrative process. See Ezeagwuna v. Ashcroft, 301 F.3d 116 (3d Cir.2002). We also concluded that a reasonable factfinder would be compelled to conclude that Ms. Obianuju was persecuted because of her political opinions and faces a clear probability of persecution if returned to Cameroon. We then found Ms. Obianuju eligible for asylum and ordered withholding of deportation, subject to the Attorney General's discretion. Because we viewed the record as sufficient, we declined to consider whether the BIA abused its discretion in refusing to reopen the record and remand to the IJ for it to consider additional evidence proffered by Ms. Obianuju.

The Attorney General sought panel rehearing in light of the Supreme Court's opinion in INS v. Ventura, ___ U.S. ___, 123 S.Ct. 353, 154 L.Ed.2d 272 (2002), urging that the BIA, and not this Court, should make the determination as to whether, based on the record absent the documents we found unreliable, asylum and withholding of deportation should be granted. We agreed with this view and vacated our prior opinion and judgment. In so doing, while the analysis in our amended opinion remains unchanged regarding the documents that we found untrustworthy, we will now also address whether the BIA should have permitted Ms. Obianuju to supplement the record with the proffered additional evidence. Because the IJ has not had the opportunity to determine Ms. Obianuju's eligibility for asylum based on the appropriate evidence, we will grant the petition for review, and remand to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.
A. Background

Glory Obianuju Ezeagwuna, a citizen of Cameroon, seeks asylum in the United States. Prior to her alleged persecution she lived in Bamenda, a city in the Northwest Province of Cameroon. She is a member of the English-speaking minority population, French being the language of the majority. She claims to have been persecuted because of her political opinion, and she points to mistreatment resulting from her membership in two political groups representing the interests of this Anglophone population — the Social Democratic Front ("SDF") and the Southern Cameroons National Council ("SCNC").

Ms. Obianuju provided a detailed account of her abuse in affidavits, testimony, and corroborating documents. Following is a summary of the account presented by Ms. Obianuju in her affidavit in support of her application for asylum.

Ms. Obianuju's parents and other family members were very active members of SDF. In 1994, Ms. Obianuju began participating in SDF activities, and in 1996, at the age of eighteen, she became an official member of SDF. Ms. Obianuju tells of three times that she was jailed and physically abused because of her political activism. The first incident took place in 1996 when she joined other SDF members in protesting the appointment of Francis Faie Yengo as the leader of the Bamenda Urban Council. Government police sprayed tear gas on the protestors and arrested them. Ms. Obianuju claims that she was then dragged through the gravel on her knees and taken by force to Bamenda Central Prison where she was beaten on the soles of her feet and on her knees with police sticks. Ms. Obianuju's parents retained an attorney, Robert Nsoh Fon, to obtain her release from prison and on the fourth day she was released on bail. Upon her release she visited a doctor, Dr. Nji, who applied ointment to her hands and knees, and provided her with painkillers.

Next, in January 1997, Ms. Obianuju and other students marched to protest a substantial fee increase for taking a university entrance exam only imposed in the English-speaking areas of Cameroon. Ms. Obianuju marched at the front of the group. The government police began beating the students with their belts and spraying tear gas in an effort to disperse the students. She was kicked in the stomach and then dragged by an officer through the gravel. In prison, she was further hit and kicked by the officers. Her attorney was able to negotiate her release from prison. After her release, Ms. Obianuju left the SDF and became a member of the SCNC. Although the SCNC did not hold demonstrations, its goals were otherwise similar to the SDF.

In March and April 1997 there were a series of attacks on police and civilian establishments in Bamenda. According to Ms. Obianuju, the government blamed the SCNC for the attacks, but she denies any involvement. Ms. Obianuju claims that a few weeks after the attacks the police entered her home at 10 p.m. while she was asleep and physically removed her from her home without providing any explanation. During the course of the family's struggle to protect her, a police officer cut her mother's hand with a knife. Ms. Obianuju was taken to prison and placed in a cell with other SCNC members where she remained for six days. During the first day she and the others were beaten with police sticks on the soles of their feet and on their knees. During the second day an officer removed her from her cell and attempted to rape her, but was stopped by another officer. He bit her on the chest and scratched her back with his nails, leaving scars. She was repeatedly kicked in the stomach and hit across her face during the remainder of her detention. When her lawyer sought her release, he was told that she was being imprisoned for the March and April attacks mentioned above. On April 30, she was released upon payment of 1,500,000 francs.

Upon release she was taken to a doctor, because she was discharging blood. She subsequently became more ill and underwent an emergency appendectomy because her appendix "had been destroyed" by the abuse she suffered. She remained in the hospital for thirty days thereafter.

On July 31, 1997, Ms. Obianuju's attorney informed her that the police had a warrant for her arrest claiming that she had been improperly released in April. She therefore traveled to Bafut, a city in the Northwest province, to stay with a family friend, George Moma. She remained in hiding there indoors until December 1998. She then obtained a fake passport in the name of George Moma's sister, Francisca Biwie Moma. She used this passport to fly to Jamaica in February 1999. She stayed with a series of new acquaintances in Jamaica for three weeks. At that time her return trip was scheduled, and she requested asylum from the Jamaican immigration office, but they denied her application and attempted to take her into custody. She again went into hiding. A Jamaican provided her with a fake English passport in the name of Rebecca Channon, and she left on a flight to Newark, New Jersey on August 13, 1999. Upon her arrival at Newark International Airport, United States immigration officers determined that the passport was false, and upon questioning by the INS, Ms. Obianuju sought political asylum. Ms. Obianuju was deemed inadmissible by the INS under sections 212(a)(6)(C)(i)1 and 212(a)(7)(A)(i)(I)2 of the INA ("Immigration and Nationality Act") because she entered the country with invalid documents, and she was detained and has remained in detention ever since. She seeks political asylum and withholding of deportation, and, in the alternative, relief under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT").3 She claims that Cameroonian authorities continue to look for her and believes that her well-being and even her life would be in jeopardy if she returned to Cameroon.

B. Proceedings Before the INS

Ms. Obianuju first appeared before the Immigration Judge ("IJ") on September 2, 1999 pro se. She subsequently obtained counsel, and a hearing on the merits was held first on March 3, 2000 and continued on May 9, 2000. Ms. Obianuju testified at great length and was cross-examined by INS counsel, Irene Feldman. Ms. Obianuju submitted a large number of corroborating documents, including affidavits and declarations of family, friends, and SDF...

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