The Ninth Circuit has reversed the Board’s denial of CAT protection to an indigenous Mexican woman, finding that the Board reviewed the judge’s factual findings de novo, despite its invocation of the clear error standard. “The BIA disagreed with the IJ’s view of the evidence. But its only explanation of why the IJ’s decision was illogical, implausible, or without support was that ‘the IJ’ did not acknowledge that the Mexican judicial system took appropriate steps to correct any past due process errors committed by the officers of the Office of Anti-kidnapping and Extortions, that the respondent reported the torture and was not subsequently harmed or threatened while in custody for nearly 8 months, and that other members of her family have remained unharmed in Mexico.’ The BIA did not explain how these alleged errors showed lack of logic, plausibility, or support in the record on the part of the IJ. The BIA’s reasoning is therefore insufficient to demonstrate that the BIA engaged in clear error review.”
The full text of Soto-Soto v. Garland can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2021/06/11/20-70587.pdf