Case: 20-61207 Document: 00516019232 Page: 1 Date Filed: 09/17/2021 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED September 17, 2021 No. 20-61207 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Donatien Pires Mpesse, Petitioner, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent. Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA No. A213 327 889 Before Elrod, Southwick, and Costa, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Due to alleged inconsistencies and implausibilities in the petitioner’s testimony, the immigration judge made an adverse credibility finding and denied the petitioner relief. The Board of Immigration Appeals rejected all but three of the inconsistencies but upheld the adverse credibility finding based on those. We further thin the group of relevant inconsistencies. * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.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: 20-61207 Document: 00516019232 Page: 2 Date Filed: 09/17/2021 No. 20-61207 Because we cannot determine whether the remaining valid evidence of inconsistent testimony would have convinced the immigration judge that the petitioner was not credible, we GRANT the petition for review and REMAND for a reevaluation of petitioner’s credibility. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Donatien Pires Mpesse, a native and citizen of Cameroon, entered the United States at Laredo, Texas, on November 5, 2019, without a valid entry document. He told officials that he had been arrested and tortured because of his homosexuality. He explained that he had been “blinded by the prison police” during his March 8, 2015 arrest, which resulted in over a year’s imprisonment. During his second arrest in 2018, also due to Mpesse’s homosexuality, Mpesse suffered a head injury that required medical attention. Mpesse was determined to be inadmissible and therefore subject to expedited removal. Mpesse gave a credible fear interview almost three weeks after he arrived in Texas. He reiterated that he was arrested on March 8, 2015, and on September 8, 2018. Describing the first arrest, Mpesse said that “[i]t is the festival of the woman, I was with my girlfriend of masculine sex, we forgot where we were and started to kiss.” Mpesse continued to explain that “[t]he police stopped us, called us fags and then beat us and put us in [a] cell.” He stated that he was imprisoned for a year and a half and that his partner died in prison during that time. He also said that “[t]hey hit me in the eye, my left eye and until now I can’t see from that eye.” During the interview, Mpesse also described the events leading up to his second arrest. He said, “I was in my room making love to my [male partner] and the landlord came to give me my electric bill. The door was not closed tightly enough and he saw us naked and went yelling telling the neighbors come see the fags that are here.” Mpesse continued that the police 2 …
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