Opinion ID: 66102
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lin’s 2003 Supplement

Text: In May 2003, Lin supplemented his application and included the asylum applications of his wife and son. Id. at 817-37. He also filed a supplemental affidavit in which he largely reiterated his previous statements. Id. at 840-43. Lin did state for the first time in his supplemental affidavit that his wife was forced to 4 undergo an abortion in China when she became pregnant after the couple’s first child. Id. at 840. Lin also explained that his wife was forced to pay three separate fines after their second child was born: one to obtain her mother-in-law’s release from custody, one to pay for the second child’s registration with the government, and one for her refusal to identify the doctor who delivered their second child. Id. at 842. Lin’s supplemental asylum application also included an affidavit from Zheng which largely matched Lin’s statements regarding their dealings with family planning officials in China. Id. at 848-51. In addition, Lin included a note from his son that stated that he would experience hardships if he and his family were forced to return to China as he does not read or write Chinese characters. Id. at 858-60. Finally, Lin attached several documents to his supplemental affidavit, including a “Planned Birth Control Operation Certificate” from a Chinese hospital which indicated that Zheng had a midterm induced abortion. Id. at 910. 2. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) Documents In response, DHS filed the following documents related to Zheng’s immigration proceedings: (1) Zheng’s asylum application; (2) the transcript from Zheng’s asylum hearing; (3) a DHS forensic report; and (4) the 2004 State Department Country Report. Id. at 696-1434. 5 a. IJ’s Decision Regarding Zheng’s Asylum Application In her asylum application, Zheng contended that she was forced to have an abortion and was forced to submit a bond to ensure her return for sterilization in the future. Id. at 706-07. The IJ denied Zheng’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief, finding that her testimony was not credible because her claim to a forced abortion was contradicted by a State Department Report that indicated certificates of abortion were only issued if the abortion was voluntary. Id. at 724-25. The IJ also noted that the State Department indicated that there were no forced abortions in the Fujian province and that birth control laws were not aggressively enforced there. Id. at 725-26. The IJ also questioned the authenticity of the documentary evidence submitted. Id. at 728-29. The IJ further found that Zheng failed to establish past persecution or a wellfounded fear of future persecution. Id. at 728-30. b. Zheng’s Asylum Hearing Transcript Also included in the government documentation was the transcript from Zheng’s January 2000 asylum hearing. Id. at 738-814. During Zheng’s hearing, the DHS objected to the authenticity of Chinese documents submitted by Zheng on grounds that they could not be verified. Id. at 758. Zheng testified that though she was then divorced from Lin, she continued to live with him in the United States. Id. at 762-63. She testified to having three children, one who was born in the 6 United States, one born in China who was in the United States, and one that was born and resided in China. Id. at 764. Zheng stated that she had her first child at age twenty-two before China enacted regulations requiring that women wait until they were twenty-five. Id. at 770. She claimed that she was married at the time to Lin though the couple had not yet registered their marriage. Id. She stated that twenty days after giving birth to her first child she became pregnant again. Id. at 771. The pregnancy was discovered when she was taken to a hospital to have an IUD implanted. Id. at 771-72. Zheng testified that she was three months pregnant when she was taken to a hospital and forced to have an abortion. Id. at 771-73. When she became pregnant a third time with her second child, Zheng claimed that she hid from family planning officials at her brother’s house and her mother was arrested for not disclosing where she was. Id. at 777. After giving birth in secret at her brother’s house, she was visited by family planning officials and forced to pay a large fine. Id. Zheng stated that she was taken to be sterilized after giving birth to the second child but convinced officials not to go through with the procedure because her husband was out of the country. She then posted a bond to ensure she would not give birth again. Id. at 779-80. c. DHS Forensic Document Laboratory Report The government also filed a report from DHS’s Forensic Document Laboratory which examined the Chinese documents submitted by Lin and 7 concluded they could not be authenticated. Id. at 1408. The laboratory noted that based on the fee-for-service nature of the Chinese notarial system, documents such as the birth certificates and payment receipts had limited value without the primary evidence from which the documents were based. Id. at 1409. d. 2004 State Department Country Report Finally, the government submitted a 2004 State Department Country Report which stated that Chinese documents were subject to widespread fraud and fabrication, particularly documents related to birth and birth control measures. Id. at 1438. The report noted significant problems with notarial documents originating in the Fujian province as well. Id. The report also underscored the lack of evidence of forced abortions or sterilizations occurring in the Fujian province in the previous ten years, apart from isolated incidents in the 1980s and early 1990s. Id. at 1434.