Opinion ID: 3110
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Zhang's 1998 Amended Asylum Application

Text: 5 In anticipation of his July 1998 hearing, Zhang filed an amendment to his initial asylum/withholding application. In that June 24, 1998 amendment, Zhang reiterated that he fled China for fear of forcible sterilization and added that, since his departure from China, government officials had forcibly sterilized his wife. 3 Providing further personal background to these events, Zhang stated that he and his wife were married in a traditional ceremony in 1988, but because they were both in their early twenties, i.e., below the legal age to marry, they could not obtain a marriage certificate. As a result, when their daughter was born the following year, local officials required the couple to pay a monetary fine for not having a marriage certificate and for conceiving a child without permission. When Zhang's wife again became pregnant in 1992, the couple feared she might be required to submit to an abortion; accordingly, they arranged for her to go into hiding with a relative who lived in another part of the country. After Zhang's son was born on December 13, 1992, family planning officials directed that his wife be sterilized. Because she was too weak from childbirth to undergo the procedure, the officials ordered that Zhang be sterilized instead. Zhang stated that he was frightened by the prospect of involuntary sterilization and, therefore, fled to the United States, arriving on January 21, 1993. He further asserted that when Chinese officials discovered Zhang's departure, they imposed a monetary fine on his wife and then forcibly sterilized her on June 5, 1993. D. The Hearing Before the Immigration Judge
6 On July 1, 1998, a hearing was held before an IJ on the excludability charges against Zhang as well as on his application for political asylum and withholding of deportation. Because Zhang, through counsel, conceded excludability at the outset of the hearing, the focus of the proceeding was on Zhang's eligibility for relief from exclusion. 7 As the sole hearing witness, Zhang, testifying through an interpreter in the Foo Chow dialect, expanded on the events outlined in his 1993 asylum application and the 1998 amendment to that application. He testified that he fled China shortly after the birth of his second child because the government had notified him to report for sterilization. Zhang stated that sometime after his arrival in the United States, he spoke by telephone with his wife in China, who reported that she had been forcibly sterilized. Although Zhang, on occasion, testified quite clearly that the date of this procedure was June 5, 1993, other parts of his testimony suggested that the alleged sterilization had occurred earlier. 8 Notably, in first recounting his telephone conversation with his wife, Zhang reported her telling him that not long after the — giving birth of the baby (the birth having taken place on December 13, 1992) five or six people, some of whom were government officials, had come to the house and told Zhang's wife she would have to be sterilized. Hearing Tr. at 16. When his wife asked the officials for more time because she was still weak from childbirth, they purportedly refused her request and insisted that the procedure take place that day. The IJ asked a series of questions to clarify the date of this conversation between Zhang and his wife as it pertained to when the alleged sterilization had occurred. Zhang replied that the conversation had occurred approximately one month after his arrival in the United States. When the IJ asked if this meant the conversation had taken place in February 1993, Zhang initially replied affirmatively. Later, however, he placed the conversation sometime in July 1993, consistent with the June 5, 1993 date that was reflected on a sterilization certificate offered in evidence. 9 In addition to this sterilization certificate, Zhang offered into evidence documents that he testified were his notarial birth certificate, his marriage certificate, a copy of his family's household register, issued on October 27, 1997, and a receipt for the cash fine paid by his wife after Zhang's departure from China, dated May 12, 1993. Zhang testified that he had asked his wife to send these documents from China and that he had received them on June 20, 1998, shortly before the hearing. Zhang also submitted a studio photograph of a woman and two children, whom he identified as his wife and children. He testified that the photograph had been sent to him sometime in 1996. 2. The Immigration Judge's Decision 10 At the conclusion of the hearing, the IJ rendered a detailed oral decision denying Zhang's asylum and withholding application and ordering his exclusion and deportation. In so ruling, the IJ identified Zhang's credibility as the central factor in evaluating his persecution claim. The IJ observed that in some cases, the only available evidence to support an applicant's subjective fear of persecution may be his own testimony, and he correctly acknowledged that such evidence can suffice to carry an applicant's burden where the testimony is believable, consistent and sufficiently detailed to provide a plausible and coherent account of the basis for the applicant's fears. In re Zhang, unpublished decision at 4 (Immig.Ct. July 1, 1998) (hereinafter IJ Decision); see Diallo v. INS, 232 F.3d 279, 285 (2d Cir.2000). In this case, however, the IJ found that Zhang's account was not believable largely because of confusing, inconsistent, and conflicting responses regarding the circumstances of his wife's alleged involuntary sterilization. After carefully reviewing the troubling inconsistencies, the IJ concluded, [i]t is the opinion of the Court that this seriously undermines the applicant's truthfulness and credibility before the Court with regard to the forced sterilization of his spouse. IJ Decision at 8. 11 The court further noted that it gave little weight to Zhang's supporting documentary evidence because it either conflicted with aspects of his own testimony, as in the case of the sterilization certificate, or was not contemporaneous. The IJ suggested that copies of the children's birth certificates or photographs showing Zhang with his family in China would have been more probative of his claimed family relationship than a family register prepared or photograph taken after his departure. The IJ also noted that Zhang's documentary corroboration did not include affidavits from persons with direct knowledge of the events and circumstances giving rise to his claim, such as his wife, certainly the best person to offer information regarding the alleged forcible sterilization. Id. E. The BIA Decision 12 Proceeding pro se, Zhang challenged the IJ's decision to the BIA, which dismissed his appeal on June 3, 2002, holding that Zhang had not adduced sufficient credible evidence to meet his burden of proof regarding eligibility for asylum or withholding of deportation. Specifically, the Board concluded that important discrepancies in the record identified by the IJ are indicative of an overall lack of veracity on Zhang's part. BIA Decision at 1. Noting that the IJ had also highlighted Zhang's failure to produce supporting documentation for his claims, the BIA specifically reiterated that in cases where an applicant's testimony may be the only evidence available to support an asylum claim, such testimony can suffice if it is believable, consistent, and sufficiently detailed to provide a plausible and coherent account of the basis for his alleged fear. Id. at 2 (citing Diallo v. INS, 232 F.3d at 279). That, however, was not this case. The BIA agreed with the IJ that Zhang had not presented consistent, detailed or credible testimony. Id. Thus, the BIA concluded, [w]e simply cannot find the testimony, of limited credibility and lacking in detail, combined with the few documents, provide[s] sufficient evidence to meet the overall burden of proof. Id. 13 This petition for review followed.