Opinion ID: 42998
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Li’s Testimony and Evidence at the Hearing

Text: The IJ conducted a hearing, and Li was the only witness. Through a translator, Li testified on direct examination that he is a forty-five year old man from China, who is married with one child in college. Li’s wife, child, brother, and sister still live in China. Li and his business partner owned a company in China that manufactured products for gold miners. Li owned the business for 1 Although petitioner’s identity is in dispute, the parties refer to him as “Li” in their briefs. 2 Li has not challenged on appeal the IJ’s denial of his claim under the CAT. Therefore, any relief under that provision is waived. Calderon-Ontiveros v. INS, 809 F.2d 1050, 1052 (5th Cir. 1986). 2 two years and had fifty-six employees. His company was seized by the Chinese government in February 2002 and no longer exists. Li was arrested at a student demonstration in 1989 and spent five days in jail. In 1996, he became a member of the Shenhe District Underground Family Church (“Church”), a Christian group having about 300 members. The members were divided into small groups, and Li’s group met at his mining company. In October 2000, police officers came to Li’s business and showed Li a picture of one of Li’s fellow Church members. The officers told Li that the man in the picture had been arrested and, while in custody, had told officers that Li was a Christian. Li denied that he was a Christian and told the police that the man in the picture owed Li’s company money and was trying to avoid the debt. On January 19, 2002, the officers returned to Li’s business and searched the office and the factory. The officers found religious materials and questioned Li and his partner about them. Li and his business partner were arrested and taken to a detention center. He never saw his partner again. Li remained in detention for seventeen days. During the detention, the police required Li to work and study. He was denied food and water and was beaten. If he moved while studying, he would be ordered to kneel for ten hours. The police interrogated him regarding whether he was a Christian and after being beaten for days, he confessed to disturbing the social order and being harmful to the nations’s security. During the interrogation, he was 3 scalded with hot water on his left hand and shoulder. Because his burns became infected, he was released on bond on February 4, 2002. As he was leaving, a police officer informed Li that he would have to return and “be sentenced to three to five years.” After being released, he had to report to the police station on a weekly basis. Li testified that he was treated for the burns three times at a hospital. He introduced medical records showing that he had received the treatment. Li also introduced photographs of his scars caused by the scalding water and beatings inflicted during his detainment. According to Li, he applied for a passport in October 2001 after the police visited his business and questioned him about his religious involvement. He obtained a visa on February 19, 2002. He admitted obtaining the passport and visa in the name of his deceased relative, Zhongquan Zhang (“Zhang”). Li could not obtain the passport in his own name because of his arrest record. Li explained that he obtained Zhang’s identification card while Zhang was in the hospital following a traffic accident prior to Zhang’s death. Li used Zhang’s identification card and his own picture to obtain the passport. He went to the foreign affairs office and filled out some forms and then obtained help from a “street committee.” Li testified that the picture on the identification card was of Zhang, but that he looked similar to Zhang. The IJ skeptically commented, “you want me to believe that, sir?” Li repeated that he 4 looked similar to his relative and that he also had the help of someone in the foreign affairs office to obtain the passport. The IJ asked Li why he needed someone else’s identification card when he had bribed someone in foreign affairs office to obtain a passport. Li explained that “agencies” outside the foreign affairs office told him that they would have someone in foreign affairs help him. The IJ again accused Li of bribing someone in foreign affairs, and Li responded that he could not apply for the passport in his own name. The IJ asked for Zhang’s identification card, and Li answered that it had been taken by the police because Zhang’s residency had been cancelled. The IJ asked whether Li had any evidence that Zhang had been killed in an automobile accident, and Li responded that he did not have such evidence because he did not think he would need it once he acquired the visa and passport. The IJ indicated that Li should have thought to obtain that evidence to prove his asylum claim. Li responded that he thought originally that he would be able to return home to China after one year but then his wife wrote him and told him that he had been sentenced to three years in prison. The IJ remarked that persons who apply for asylum generally do not expect to return home within one year. Li explained that he planned to return home to run his business until he learned about his prison sentence. The IJ was skeptical that Li actually believed that he could return home to China. Li reiterated that he 5 would have returned if he had not received a prison sentence. Counsel for the Immigration Service asked Li how he could prove that he was not the person whose name (Zhang) was on the passport. Li responded that he had an identification card, but apparently a card with the wrong name or the wrong translation of the name had been filed in the record. Li’s counsel had a different document in his file, but the IJ refused to consider it because it was not previously submitted to the court. However, Li’s counsel did produce an identification card that Li testified had his name on it. Counsel also submitted letters addressed to Li by his wife and friend. Li’s counsel asked him to identify the translation of his birth certificate, and Li said that he recalled the document, although he did not initially recall that he had submitted that document to the court. The IJ again questioned Li about how he had obtained a passport. Li again told the IJ that someone outside of the foreign affairs office helped him get the passport using the identification of Zhang and Li’s own picture. The IJ asked if fingerprinting was required to obtain a passport, and Li answered no. The IJ did not accept Li’s response, questioning how the Chinese government could know that it was issuing the passport to the proper person without fingerprinting. Li repeated that the application was processed without any fingerprinting. Li admitted that it was common in China to be able to purchase a false identification document. The IJ then asked Li why he should believe Li if it was so 6 simple to obtain a fraudulent document in China. Li acknowledged that corruption was common in the Foreign Affairs office in China. The IJ stated that Li appeared to be making up stories along the way and had not provided the “missing link” evidence, which was the identification card of Zhang or proof of his death. The IJ again attacked Li’s credibility, asking why he should believe that Li was who he said he was based on evidence “that easily could have been made up.” Counsel for Li responded that the documents provided proved that the applicant was Li. The IJ responded that Li had testified that you could buy any identification documents you want in China, and counsel disagreed that Li had agreed with the IJ’s comments concerning bribery. The IJ stated that he had perceived Li’s testimony differently. When asked if he would like to see Li’s identification card, the IJ refused to look at it because it was not in the record. Li testified that if he returned to China, he would be persecuted and sent to prison. He related that he would not be safe anywhere in the country because there is a resident management policy that requires reporting to the resident office and local resident agencies. Counsel for the Immigration Service asked about a photograph of Li’s mining company, which reflected that a seal had been placed on the gate of the business. Li stated that the seal was placed on the gate in February of 2002 when the government seized his business. The IJ pointed out that the pictures contained a date 7 stamped by the camera of October 1st or January 10, 2001.3 Li’s counsel replied that many times the dates are not properly set on cameras. Li learned that his business had been seized from other persons and had not been served with any papers. He testified that it was seized because of the underground church activity. He learned via telephone calls from his friends that his partner had been sentenced to two years in prison. Li provided a Notarial Certificate of Nationality stating that “Li Zhongen”4 had been born on October 9, 1959 and was a Chinese national. An English translation of the certificate was also submitted into evidence.