Court Opinion

ID: 9899403
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-16 18:01:06.714376+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:24.241441
License: Public Domain

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                      FILED
                            FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT                        NOV 16 2023
                                                                     MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                      U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
QINGYAN PAN, et al.                             No. 22-46
                                                Agency Nos.
             Petitioners,                       A206-345-608
                                                A206-345-611
 v.                                             A206-345-609
                                                A206-345-610
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,
                                                ORDER
             Respondent.

Before: WARDLAW, CHRISTEN, and SUNG, Circuit Judges.

      The memorandum disposition filed on September 19, 2023, is withdrawn,

and replaced with the concurrently filed amended memorandum disposition. With

that, the panel has unanimously voted to deny the petition for panel rehearing.

      DENIED.
                            NOT FOR PUBLICATION                          FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                       NOV 16 2023
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                            FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

QINGYAN PAN; YUTONG                             No. 22-46
HE; KUNYUN HE; YUJIN HE,                        Agency Nos.
                                                A206-345-608
             Petitioners,                       A206-345-611
                                                A206-345-609
 v.
                                                A206-345-610
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,                                        AMENDED MEMORANDUM*

             Respondent.

                     On Petition for Review of an Order of the
                         Board of Immigration Appeals

                      Argued and Submitted August 16, 2023
                              Pasadena, California

Before: WARDLAW, CHRISTEN, and SUNG, Circuit Judges.

      Pan Qingyan, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of the Board

of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming the Immigration Judge’s

(“IJ”) denial of her applications for asylum, withholding, and protection under the

Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Pan’s husband, He Kunyun, and two

      *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
foreign-born children, Yujin and Yutong, are derivative beneficiaries of Pan’s

asylum application. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We grant the

petition.

      1. Substantial evidence does not support the BIA’s conclusion that Pan did

not have a well-founded fear of future persecution by the Chinese government on

account of her membership in the Local Church. Pan has a well-founded fear if (1)

she has a fear of persecution in China on account of her religion; (2) there is a

reasonable possibility of suffering persecution if she returns to China; and (3) she

is unable or unwilling to return to China because of such fear. See 8 C.F.R. §

1208.13(b)(2). Pan credibly testified to her subjective fear and unwillingness to

return to China. But the BIA rejected Pan’s claim and found that she did not

provide evidence that “she is a member of the banned Shouters Church or that she

faces a reasonable possibility of persecution.” The record compels the opposite

conclusion.

      Pan submitted a report from the U.S. Department of State establishing that

the “Shouters” are a religious group criminally banned by the Chinese government

and “those belonging to them can be sentenced up to life in prison.” U.S. Dep’t of

State, Bureau of Democracy, H.R. and Lab., International Religious Freedom

Report for 2016 (2016). Neither the agency nor the government questions whether

the Chinese government persecutes the Shouters.

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      Instead, the government argues that Pan did not objectively establish a

connection between her church and the Shouters. To the contrary: The record

compels the conclusion that Pan’s church is the same religious group as the

“Shouters.” Pan credibly testified that she belonged to the Local Church, which is

called the Shouters in China. And ample evidence in the record supports Pan’s

testimony that the Local Church is the same religious group as the Shouters. Pan

submitted congressional records showing that the Local Church and the Shouters

originated from the same founders and ministry, who are labeled “dangerous” “cult

leader[s]” by the Chinese government. 160 Cong. Rec. E621 (daily ed. Apr. 29,

2014) (statement of Rep. Pitts). Further, the congressional records reveal that the

Local Church and the Shouters use the same Recovery Version Bible, and

members “have been imprisoned merely for possessing copies of the Recovery

Version.” Pan also submitted a political prisoner database created by the

Congressional Executive Commission on China that reveals that the Chinese

government imprisoned defendants for “being ‘Shouters’ (Local Church), a

Christian affiliated religious group banned in China.” Cong. Exec. Comm’n on

China, China: List of Political Prisoners Detained or Imprisoned as of October 10,

2013, 146–48, 151–52 (2013).

      2. The government argues for a different interpretation of the term “local

church,” and the agency incorrectly accepted this interpretation. The government

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asserts that Pan’s testimony regarding her devotion to the Local Church merely

describes her adherence to her “local” church in Hacienda Heights, California. But

Pan’s evidence and her credible testimony confirm that her adherence to the Local

Church describes her devotion to a religious movement rather than to a

neighborhood church.

      3. The government also contends that the agency reasonably relied on the

fact that Pan’s mother-in-law was able to practice her Christian faith in China for

years without facing persecution. But there is no evidence in the record to show

that Pan’s mother-in-law belonged to the Shouters, and thus, her experience sheds

no light on Pan’s likelihood of facing persecution. While many Christians in

China can practice their faith without persecution, members of Pan’s Local Church

have been arrested and persecuted by the Chinese government for practicing their

faith. Indeed, some of Pan’s fellow church members have been granted asylum on

these grounds.

      The BIA disregarded the evidentiary record to conclude that Pan did not

establish her membership in the banned Shouters group and that she did not face a

reasonable possibility of persecution. The record compels our finding that the

Shouters are persecuted by the Chinese government and that Pan’s Local Church is

the same as the Shouters. Therefore, Pan has met her burden of showing at least a

“ten percent chance of persecution” upon her return to China. Al-Harbi v. INS, 242

                                        4
F.3d 882, 888 (9th Cir. 2001).

      4. Because we find that Pan has met her burden of establishing a well-

founded fear of persecution on account of her faith, we need not reach Pan’s

asylum claim based on her violation of China’s family planning policies or her

withholding and CAT claims. And although the agency erred by requiring

additional corroboration without providing adequate notice as required under Ren

v. Holder, 648 F.3d 1079 (9th Cir. 2011), because we grant Pan’s petition, we

remand to the BIA for further proceedings in light of the Court’s determination that

Pan demonstrated eligibility for asylum on account of her religion.

      PETITION GRANTED.

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