Tendo v. Garland


Case: 20-60038 Document: 00516414848 Page: 1 Date Filed: 08/01/2022 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED August 1, 2022 No. 20-60038 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Steven Tendo, Petitioner, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A 201 520 012 Before King, Elrod, and Southwick, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Steven Tendo, a native and citizen of Uganda, filed three petitions for review from orders of the BIA. The BIA affirmed the IJ’s adverse-credibility ruling, denied Tendo’s motion to reopen, and denied Tendo’s motion to re- consider the BIA’s denial of reopening. Tendo petitions for review of each order, and these petitions have been consolidated on appeal. Because of the * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 20-60038 Document: 00516414848 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/01/2022 No. 20-60038 numerous basses for the adverse-credibility determination and the deferen- tial standard of review for denials of motions to reopen, we DENY the peti- tions for review. I Tendo arrived in the United States in December 2018 seeking asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Tor- ture (CAT). He alleged that he suffered severe persecution at the hands of the Ugandan government on account of his nonprofit organization, Eternal Life Organization International Ministries (ELOI Ministries). Specifically, Tendo alleges that the government of Uganda retaliated against him for a youth-voter registration campaign conducted by ELOI Ministries. Tendo al- leges a series of persecutory actions by the Ugandan government in the form of over 20 false arrests during many or all of which he was tortured. For instance, in 2012, Tendo says that he was kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to a “safe house,” where he was tortured for information about ELOI’s funding. Over the course of over three weeks, Tendo’s interrogators starved him, beat him, and cut off the tips of two fingers piece by piece. The interrogators placed him in a room with a python—whose head was sus- pended to keep it from eating him and to cause it to whip its tail, whipping and bruising Tendo. Eventually, his family discovered where he was and pe- titioned successfully for his release. The IJ denied Tendo’s application for relief based on the determina- tion that Tendo’s testimony was not credible. The IJ found support for its adverse-credibility determination in Tendo’s frequent travel to and from Uganda and five inconsistencies between testimony and evidence. Those five inconsistencies were: (1) Tendo’s birth date, (2) whether he travelled to the UAE, (3) the details of his arrests, (4) the process he received in prisons, and (5) how he was related to his alleged relatives. The IJ also held that 2 Case: 20-60038 Document: 00516414848 Page: 3 Date Filed: 08/01/2022 No. 20-60038 Tendo failed to corroborate …

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