Court Opinion

ID: 9798500
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 05:06:49.189659+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:48.345234
License: Public Domain

CLIFTON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. Even accepting Wang’s factual testimony as true, the evidence does not compel the conclusion that Wang suffered persecution on account of a political opinion.
Wang led a workers’ protest at a municipal government building. The workers protested for two hours, after which representatives of the government came out and took their letters. The representatives told Wang that they would notify Wang’s company of their decision, and that they should go back home and not block the way. Wang did not claim to have suffered any harm, let alone persecution, at or following that protest. Less than ten days later, Wang led another protest at the municipal building. This time, the protesters blocked the door of the government building and the road. Wang told the *413government representatives that the protesters would not leave until they got a response. Six hours later, the police told the protesters that their protest was illegal and that they were disturbing the peace, giving them five minutes to leave. While trying to disperse the protesters, the police arrested Wang because he was the leader of the group. Wang’s purported political opinions had not changed, but he was not arrested after the first protest, only after he led a group blocking the building. That was a normal law enforcement response, not compelling proof of political persecution.
At the police station, Wang was asked to admit to spreading “Western thoughts such as democracy, human rights, and freedom,” but the police did not physically coerce him to confess. Nor was he beaten after explaining the workers’ position and accusing the company of being irresponsible. The physical abuse did not start until Wang insulted the officers by accusing them of being “cold blooded animals” just like the head of the company.
The record does not compel the conclusion that Wang was harmed because the police imputed a political opinion to him. Rather, the record shows that Wang was not arrested after the first protest but only after leading a group that blocked the government building, which the protesters had been told not to do. Similarly, he was not physically assaulted after expressing his pro-democracy political opinions, but only after he directly and personally insulted the police officers. The evidence did not compel a conclusion contrary to that reached by the BIA. Under the deferential standard of review that should apply, the petition for review should be denied.