NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JAN 6 2022 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT CHARLES NJOIKOU ABAJEIH, AKA No. 20-72348 Charles Abajeih Njoku, Agency No. A213-187-583 Petitioner, v. MEMORANDUM* MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Argued and Submitted December 9, 2021 Pasadena, California Before: KELLY,** M. SMITH, and FORREST, Circuit Judges. Petitioner Charles Njoikou Abajeih seeks review of a Board of Immigration Appeals’s (BIA) decision dismissing his appeal from an Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The Honorable Paul J. Kelly, Jr., United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, sitting by designation. Convention Against Torture (CAT). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252, and we deny the petition in part and remand to the BIA for further proceedings. The parties are familiar with the facts, so we provide only a brief outline. Petitioner is a native English speaker from Cameroon, twice detained by his government. After his first release in November 2015, Petitioner moved to Nigeria, where he used a fake marriage certificate, false employment information, and a Nigerian passport under a false name to apply for a U.S. visa. That visa was denied because Petitioner’s fingerprints connected him to two identities. Petitioner returned to Cameroon. In December 2018, military personnel accused Petitioner of using money from his brother to support separatists, detained him, and beat him. Petitioner was released when his brother provided payment to the prison commander in April 2019. On September 4, 2019, Petitioner was detained at the San Ysidro, California port of entry and on September 8, 2019, gave a sworn statement in proceedings under INA § 235(b)(1). Petitioner falsely claimed that he had never used another name and had applied for a U.S. visa once and was denied. Pursuant to a Notice to Appear, Petitioner appeared pro se in immigration court and admitted entering this country without entry documents. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(7)(A)(i)(I). In his testimony before the IJ, Petitioner provided multiple dates of when he left Cameroon for the second time. He eventually clarified that 2 his second arrest was in December 2018 and his second time leaving Cameroon was upon his release in 2019. The IJ denied Petitioner’s applications for asylum and withholding of removal based upon an adverse credibility determination. The IJ also found Petitioner’s claim for CAT protection too weak because of incredible testimony and a failure to show a likelihood of torture. The BIA affirmed on these grounds. STANDARD OF REVIEW We review the BIA’s decision except where it explicitly adopts the IJ’s opinion. Plancarte v. Garland, 9 F.4th 1146, 1151 (9th Cir. 2021). We review adverse credibility determinations under a substantial evidence standard. Bassene v. Holder, …
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