Sixth Circuit stays appeal to correct translation errors

Sea v. Holder, No. 09-4301 (6th Cir. Nov. 8, 2011) (published), http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/11a0286p-06.pdf.

The alien's asylum claim was denied on credibility grounds.  She hired a new attorney to file a petition for review with the Sixth Circuit.  The new attorney realized that a document that was crucial to the adverse credibility finding was improperly translated.  The attorney obtained affidavit from the translator admitting to the error and retranslating the document. 

The court cannot consider this new evidence but it agreed to stay the appeal to allow the alien to file a motion to reopen with the BIA.  According to the EOIR information line, the motion was filed on October 24, 2011 and it is still pending.  There are timeliness issues in this case so it will be interesting to see how the BIA handles it.