This court has jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 to review the BIA’s order dismissing the petitioner’s appeal from an IJ’s decision denying her application for asylum and withholding of removal. This court reviews for substantial evidence and grants the petition for review and remand.
Substantial evidence does not support the agency’s adverse credibility findings that the petitioner’s testimony was inconsistent with her witness’s testimony with respect to her October 1998 arrest and discrepancies regarding the date she claimed the police arrested her, if the petitioner was not given an opportunity to explain these discrepancies.
Substantial evidence also does not support the BIA’s alternate conclusion that a presumption of a well-founded fear was rebutted solely based on the remarks of one witness that the Pentecostal church is now officially recognized by the Armenian government. Accordingly, this court remands the petitioner’s asylum and withholding of removal claims on an open record. Petition for review is therefore granted and the case is remanded.
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