Opinion ID: 1442874
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Shan Hu Zheng

Text: In December 1994, Petitioner Shan Hu Zheng left Fujian Province, China, for the United States, where she arrived without inspection. She filed an initial asylum application, alleging religious persecution. In November 1995, the IJ denied Zheng's application and ordered her deported, finding that the evidence of harassment that she had presented did not rise to the level of persecution. The BIA affirmed in May 1996. In October 2000, Zheng married Hong Tao Lin, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and later gave birth to two children  one in February 2002, and another in May 2003. After filing unsuccessful motions to reopen in 1999 and 2002, Zheng filed a third motion to reopen in June 2005, claiming that the birth of her second child constituted changed circumstances that warranted the granting of an untimely motion to reopen and made her newly eligible for asylum. Based on her changed personal circumstances, Zheng argued that she could file a successive asylum application. In July 2005, the BIA denied the motion as both number-barred and time-barred. The BIA found that Zheng's motion did not fall within an exception to those procedural limitations because the birth of children in the United States did not amount to changed country conditions. Four months later, the BIA reopened Zheng's proceedings sua sponte based on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. The BIA then reissued its July 2005 decision to enable Zheng to timely file the instant petition for review in this court.