## Facts

- Lorraine Fiadjoe, a Ghanaian citizen and member of the Ewe tribe, alleged that from childhood until her escape she was held in servitude by her father, a priest associated with the Trokosi practice.
- She testified that her father repeatedly beat and raped her and treated her as a slave under asserted religious custom.
- She stated that relatives sought police intervention, but authorities refused to act, treating the abuse as a “domestic dispute.”
- After a temporary escape, she returned to Ghana and alleged her father escalated violence, including scalding her with boiling water and beating her during pregnancy, causing a miscarriage.
- She asserted her father killed a man who attempted to help her.
- She fled Ghana and entered the United States in March 2000 using another person’s passport and was detained as an arriving alien.
- A psychologist provided evidence consistent with severe, prolonged trauma and its effects on memory, demeanor, and narrative presentation.

## Issues

1. Whether the IJ’s and BIA’s adverse credibility findings were supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record as a whole.
2. Whether the BIA erred in concluding Fiadjoe failed to show the Ghanaian government was unable or unwilling to protect her from abuse by a private actor.
3. Whether the resulting denials of asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection could stand.

## Decision

- The Third Circuit granted the petition for review and vacated the agency’s denials of relief and reconsideration.
- The court held the adverse credibility determination was not supported by substantial evidence, given the consistency of core claims and corroborative psychological evidence.
- The court rejected the conclusion that Fiadjoe failed to establish that Ghanaian authorities were unable or unwilling to protect her.
- The court remanded for a new hearing and further record development before a different immigration judge.

## Legal Principles

- Agency factual findings in asylum-related proceedings must be supported by substantial evidence; credibility determinations cannot rest on speculation, minor discrepancies, or unfair demeanor assessments.
- Credibility analysis must account for record evidence that severe trauma can affect memory, affect, and the manner in which testimony is delivered.
- Persecution by a private actor may support asylum and withholding if the applicant shows the home government is unable or unwilling to control the persecutor, including where police refuse to intervene.
- Appellate courts may order reassignment to a different IJ where the original proceedings reflect serious unfairness affecting factfinding.

## Conclusion

The Third Circuit vacated the denial of asylum-related relief because the agency’s credibility and state-protection determinations lacked substantial evidentiary support, and it ordered a new hearing before a different immigration judge to ensure a fair evaluation of the claims and record.


Fiadjoe v. Att’y Gen. of the U.S., 411 F.3d 135 (3d Cir. 2005)