Peter Donatus Udo v. Merrick B. Garland

San Francisco, California lawyers represented petitioner who appealed a adverse immigration law decision.



Peter Donatus Udo is a citizen of Nigeria who applied

for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the

Convention Against Torture ("CAT”) in the United States on

the grounds that he feared violence in Nigeria as a gay man.

Specifically, the Council of Traditional Rulers of Udo's

community in Nigeria decreed that he was subject to "public

execution” because he was found "practicing

homosexuality.”

Although the immigration judge (“IJ”) and

the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “BIA” or the

“Board”) denied relief on the grounds that Udo was not

credible, the BIA failed to give reasoned consideration to

key evidence that was independent of Udo’s testimony,

namely the Council’s decree and a collection of letters and

affidavits supplied by Udo’s family members. The BIA also

erred in deeming Udo’s asylum application frivolous

because any fabrication was not of a material element of

Udo’s asylum claim.