Opinion ID: 2567
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Proceedings Leading to Precedential Decisions

Text: In February 2002, Jian Hui Shao, a native of Fuzhou City in China's Fujian Province, attempted to enter the United States unlawfully. In subsequent removal proceedings, Jian Hui Shao conceded removability but applied for asylum and withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq., and for relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Jian Hui Shao asserted that he feared forcible sterilization in China because he had fathered two daughters in that country and Chinese law prohibited him, a non-agricultural worker, from having more than one child. To demonstrate the reasonableness of his fearand to explain his abandonment of his wife in China only weeks after discovering her second pregnancyJian Hui Shao testified that he had been beaten and jailed by Chinese officials after his wife missed a gynecological examination intended to ensure her compliance with family planning policies and he refused to disclose her whereabouts. Identifying various inconsistencies and implausibilities in Jian Hui Shao's account, the immigration judge (IJ) found him not credible in all respects but one: the fact that he now had two children in China. See In re Jian Hui Shao, No. A 79 759 247, at 14-15 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City Feb. 27, 2003). The IJ denied petitioner relief from removal, a determination summarily upheld by the BIA on initial direct review. See In re Jian Hui Shao, No. A 79 759 247 (B.I.A. June 28, 2004).
On Jian Hui Shao's initial petition for review by this court, we concluded that the agency's adverse credibility determination was supported by substantial evidence. See Jian Hui Shao v. BIA, 465 F.3d at 500-01. Nevertheless, we remanded the case for further agency consideration of the question under what circumstances, if any, having two children in China is sufficient grounds for a well-founded fear of future persecution. Id. at 501. In so ruling, we noted that, in Jian Xing Huang v. INS , this court had expressed skepticism as to whether an alien with two children born in the United States could demonstrate a well-founded fear of forced sterilization on removal to China absent specific factsbeyond the general conditions in Chinagiving rise to his subjective fear. Jian Hui Shao v. BIA, 465 F.3d at 501 (citing Jian Xing Huang v. INS , 421 F.3d at 129). Nevertheless, because Jian Hui Shao's children were born in and live in China,  we considered the possibility that such circumstances might warrant a different assessment of the objective reasonableness of petitioner's professed fear. Id. (emphasis added). Noting that the INA's definition of a refugee did not clearly resolve the issue and that the BIAthe agency charged with the INA's enforcement and thus entitled to deference with regard to the statute's interpretationhad not previously considered the point, we decided to remand. See id. at 501-03 (citing Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984); Shi Liang Lin v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 416 F.3d 184, 189-91 (2d Cir.2005)). In making that determination, we noted the far-reaching implications of any decision: Jian Hui Shao's circumstances were shared by innumerable potential asylum applicants and the grant of asylum to all persons with more children than allowed by China's family planning policies would raise complicated foreign and public policy questions. Id. at 502. Thus, we observed that a precedential decision by the BIA or the Supreme Court of the United States was desirable to assure uniformity in such cases. Id. We anticipated that the remand question might not admit a single answer applicable throughout China. We observed that the BIA was better prepared than federal circuit courts to evaluate whether different regions of China enforce divergent family planning policies and whether applicants from diverse locales should accordingly receive different treatment in asylum proceedings. Id.

In July 1992, Ji Wen Shi, a native of Changle City in Fujian Province, attempted to enter the United States unlawfully. Failing to appear for his removal proceedings in January 1993, Ji Wen Shi was initially ordered removed in absentia.
In fact, Ji Wen Shi remained in this country illegally for several years, marrying another Chinese national in 1999 and fathering his first child, a son, in 2000. In May 2001, while his wife was pregnant with the couple's second son, Ji Wen Shi moved to reopen his removal proceedings, attributing his 1993 absence to getting lost on the way to the immigration court as the result of taking the wrong bus. Because the agency granted the motion, we have no reason to consider Ji Wen Shi's eight-year delay in proffering this explanation. We note only that, upon reopening, Ji Wen Shi applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief based on a purported fear that, if he and his wife were to return to China, one or the other would be forcibly sterilized for having violated the country's one-child policy. In addition, Ji Wen Shi claimed that he feared that he would be jailed, beaten, and tortured upon return to China because he had left the country without authorization. Finding Ji Wen Shi to have testified credibly, the IJ concluded that petitioner had established that he had a well-founded fear of being forcibly sterilized on return to China and granted him asylum. See In re Ji Wen Shi, No. A 72 459 654 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City May 16, 2003).
On appeal to the BIA, the government argued that, as a matter of law, Ji Wen Shi did not fit within the statutory definition of a refugee because he had not been subjected to any coercive measures and his fear of future mistreatment was merely speculative. In reversing the IJ's grant of relief from removal, the BIA did not attempt to resolve the government's legal challenge categorically. Instead, focusing on the record evidence developed in the particular case, the BIA ruled that, even if Ji Wen Shi had demonstrated a credible subjective fear of future sterilization, he had failed to adduce evidence demonstrating that his fear was objectively reasonable. See In re Ji Wen Shi, No. A 72 459 654 (B.I.A. Sept. 14, 2004). The BIA particularly noted the lack of evidence of any national Chinese policy regarding the treatment of parents of foreign-born children. To the extent Ji Wen Shi attempted to fill this gap with an affidavit from demographer John Shields Aird indicating that persons returning to China from abroad with unauthorized children can hardly expect to be afforded leniency under the nation's one-child policy, the BIA concluded that this evidence showed only that Ji Wen Shi may face sanctions and penalties upon return to China, not that those penalties would rise to the level of persecution. Id. at 2. The BIA further determined that the possibility of Ji Wen Shi and his wife having another child was too speculative to warrant relief from removal. See id. As to Ji Wen Shi's assertion that he feared incarceration in light of his illegal departure from China, the BIA concluded that petitioner had failed to demonstrate that any punishments imposed would, in fact, amount to torture under the CAT, or be based on any of the enumerated protected grounds under the INA. See id. at 1-2.
Ji Wen Shi petitioned this court for review but, in January 2006, before the case was heard, the parties stipulated to a remand to allow the BIA (1) to address evidence accompanying the Aird affidavit, (2) to explain further its conclusion that Ji Wen Shi had not demonstrated an objectively reasonable fear of forced sterilization if returned to China, and (3) to consider Ji Wen Shi's claim in light of this court's recent decision in Jian Xing Huang v. INS, 421 F.3d 125.

Show Yung Guo, another native of Changle City in Fujian Province, attempted to enter the United States illegally in October 1992. In her initial airport interview, she stated that she had two children and feared forced sterilization were she to return to China. In March 1993, however, she applied for asylum and relief from removal on the ground that she feared forced sterilization in China based on her violation of that country's one-child policy because she had given birth to one child in China and wished to have more children with her husband. By the time Show Yung Guo testified at a merits hearing in January 1996, she could point to the birth of another child in the United States as further support for her claim, and testified she had a total of three children, one of whom she had adopted in China. Further, Show Yung Guo testified to past persecution in China in the form of mandatory IUD implants, despite adverse health effects, and a forced abortion and threatened sterilization. Identifying numerous inconsistencies among Show Yung Guo's airport interview, her asylum application, and her hearing testimony, and taking note of her unconvincing demeanor, the IJ found petitioner not credible except to the extent she had demonstrated that she had given birth to one child in China and one in the United States. See In re Show Yung Guo, No. A 72 461 714, at 7-9 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City Jan. 25, 1996). Finding no credible evidence of past persecution in China, the IJ concluded that Show Yung Guo had not demonstrated a well-founded fear of future forced sterilization on removal to that country because she offered no evidence that the birth of a second child in the United States would be deemed a violation of Chinese policy. See id. at 10-11. Accordingly, the IJ ordered removal. The BIA upheld this ruling on direct appeal, see In re Show Yung Guo, No. A 72 461 714 (B.I.A. Aug. 21, 1997), and Show Yung Guo did not petition this court for review.
In June 1999, Show Yung Guo moved the BIA to reopen her removal proceedings, indicating that she wished to apply for CAT relief. Reiterating her claim that she had a total of three children, Show Yung Guo asserted that her past experiences with Chinese family planning authorities convinced her that she would be forcibly sterilized if returned to her native country. The BIA denied the motion in June 2002, noting that Show Yung Guo had not challenged the agency's prior adverse credibility determination, much less explained the record inconsistencies informing that determination. See In re Show Yung Guo, No. A 72 461 714 (B.I.A. June 11, 2002). Her failure credibly to demonstrate past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution thus not only defeated her INA claims for asylum and withholding of removal, but also precluded her from showing the likelihood of future torture necessary to secure CAT relief. See id. at 2.
In September 2003, Show Yung Guo again moved to reopen, this time claiming changed country conditions with respect to the enforcement of China's population control policies against nationals returning from abroad. In support, petitioner presented two documents issued by Changle City and Fujian Province family planning authorities that responded to an inquiry about the application of population policy limits to an individual named Zheng Yu He, whose wife had given birth to a second child while traveling in the United States. Both authorities indicated that population limits were enforceable against Chinese nationals who violated family planning regulations while abroad unless the national had acquired legal permanent residence or three years' legal temporary residence in the foreign country. See May 22, 2003 Administrative Opinion On Sanctions Against Family-Planning Violations, issued by the Changle City Family-Planning Administration (2003 Changle City Administrative Opinion) ¶ 2; 2003 Administrative Decision on Request for Directive from Fuzhou City Administration on Family-Planning in Connection with Birth of a Second Child by Zheng Yu He of Changle City Municipal Bureau of Construction and His Spouse in USA, issued by the Fujian Province Department of Family-Planning Administration (2003 Fujian Province Administrative Decision) ¶ 2. While these two documents did not reference any particular enforcement method that might apply in the circumstances at issue, Show Yung Guo offered a third document indicating that sterilization was mandatory in Changle City upon the birth of a second child. See Q & A for Changle City Family-Planning Information Handbook (July 1999) (1999 Q & A Handbook) ¶ 16. [4] The BIA summarily denied Show Yung Guo's second motion to reopen, finding that the documents at issue were new but insufficient to show the changed circumstances required by the applicable regulation. In re Show Yung Guo, No. A 72 461 714 (B.I.A. Jan. 22, 2004); see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(3)(ii).
On Show Yung Guo's petition for review of the denials of her motions to reopen, this court ruled that the BIA had acted within its discretion in denying the first motion because petitioner had failed to support her proposed CAT claim with any additional evidence beyond the story deemed false in the asylum hearing. Shou Yung Guo v. Gonzales, 463 F.3d at 114. At the same time, however, we identified error in the BIA's assessment of the evidence Show Yung Guo marshaled in support of her second motion. Id. at 115. We noted first that the proffered official documents were obviously not available at the time of petitioner's removal hearing because they all post-dated those proceedings. Id. We further characterized the documents as unquestionably material to the issue of whether conditions in China had changed to expose returning Chinese nationals with two children to forced sterilization. Id. Concluding that [i]t is not apparent to us that the BIA ever really paid any attention to the documents, we remanded the case to the BIA with directions to consider Guo's evidence of changed circumstances and to determine whether, in light of any such circumstances, she can establish a well-founded fear of persecution. Id.