Mockeviciene v. U.S. Attorney General

Ingrida Mockeviciene (plaintiff) and her daughter left their native Lithuania to come to the United States (defendant) as nonimmigrant visitors and overstayed their visas. Mockeviciene applied for asylum and withholding of removal based on persecution she faced in her home country as a member of a particular social group as a lesbian. Mockeviciene presented her personal testimony about facing harassment, loss of employment and housing, and violence from her husband, neighbors, and the police after identifying herself as a lesbian. She also presented evidence from her daughter and letters from friends confirming that she was a lesbian, as well as official reports documenting the discrimination and violence homosexual individuals faced in Lithuania. The immigration judge rejected her claims upon his belief that her testimony that she was a lesbian was not credible. The immigration judge based this credibility determination on a number of rationales, including that she had not entered into a lesbian relationship and had not joined any lesbian groups since coming to the United States. Mockeviciene appealed the ruling to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The BIA did not specifically endorse the immigration judge’s reasonings for his adverse credibility determination but did uphold the ruling based on evidence that Mockeviciene had recently married a man. Mockeviciene’s appeal came before the Eleventh Circuit court of appeals.