Chen Qin v. Lynch

833 F.3d 40, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 14715, 2016 WL 4206374
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedAugust 10, 2016
Docket15-2158P
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 833 F.3d 40 (Chen Qin v. Lynch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chen Qin v. Lynch, 833 F.3d 40, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 14715, 2016 WL 4206374 (1st Cir. 2016).

Opinion

*42 LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

Chen Qin is a native and citizen of the People’s Republic of China (“China”) who entered the United States without permission in October 2011. She petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) decision to dismiss her appeal of the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her application for asylum and withholding of removal. She argues that the BIA erred in upholding the IJ’s finding that she had not demonstrated an objectively well-founded fear of future persecution as a Christian in China, due to her prior attendance at an underground Christian church. We deny the petition.

I.

We describe the record evidence in Chen’s application for asylum. Chen, who was born in 1985 in Pandu Township, Li-anjian County, Fujian Province, China, testified that she began practicing as a Christian under the influence of her mother and was baptized as a Protestant in December 2005. She testified that the Chinese government began to “erack[ ] down” on Protestants at some point after her baptism, such that her congregation sometimes met in secret. She said her mother reported to her that on September 15, 2011, the police visited her mother’s house while Chen was working elsewhere and told her mother that members of the congregation had been arrested, that one of these members had informed the police of Chen’s membership, and that the police were searching for Chen. Her mother urged her to travel from her mother’s house to her older brother’s house, some twenty hours away by car, and stay there for the time being. She did so.

Chen testified that more than ten days later, the police visited her brother, who then told her that she had “better leave quick.” In later contradictory testimony, she said that the police did not actually visit her brother’s home or place of work, but rather that her mother called her brother to warn him that the police were “just about to visit” his house. After the incident, Chen was smuggled out of China. A letter from her mother included in the administrative record asserts that “the Chinese police have not given up [on] arresting [Chen],” and that her mother no longer attends church services out of fear for her own safety.

Chen entered the United States through or near Laredo,. Texas, on October 26, 2011, and was apprehended by the United States Customs and Border Protection in Laredo on November 3, 2011. She was served with a Notice To Appear dated December 15, 2011. She conceded remova-bility and submitted an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The IJ found that she was not a credible witness, and that she had not corroborated her testimony. He further found that she had failed to show past persecution and that, even “[accepting as true [her] testimony that she is a practicing Christian,” she had not demonstrated an objectively well-founded fear of future persecution, and denied Chen’s application. The IJ explained:

The Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report[] for China indicates that in some regions in China, the government was unlikely to disturb individuals’ religious practice, and permitted unregistered churches to exist and operate freely.... Specifically, the Report states that, in some areas of China, unregistered house churches operated openly and with the tacit approval of local authorities.... Therefore, even if the Court were to assume (without deciding) that the Respondent is a Christian and would join an unregis *43 tered church in China, there are areas where she can practice her religion freely without being persecuted. In fact, the Respondent already relocated to her brother’s house, twenty hours .from her mother’s house, indicating that relocation would be reasonable for her.- 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(2)(ii), (3).

The BIA dismissed Chen’s appeal. It declined to pass judgment on the IJ’s credibility determination, and instead held that even if Chen were credible, she had not demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution, rendering her ineligible for asylum or withholding of removal. It held:

In particular, the Immigration Judge properly relied on the Department of State report[] on religious freedom in China which show[s] that, while persecution of religious groups does occur, it varies greatly depending on location, and “in some areas, ... unregistered house churches operate[] openly and with the tacit approval of local authorities” _See, e.g., Xue Zhu Lin v. Holder, 570 Fed.Appx. 4, 7 (1st Cir. 2014) (affirming Board’s denial of asylum to Chinese Christian where analysis focused on the objective component and State Department reports on religious freedom in China explaining that while persecution of religious groups does occur, it varies greatly depending on location, and “[m]ost Christian groups, the majority of which are [not officially recognized or sanctioned], no longer operate[] in strict secrecy[]”); Hong Chen v. Holder, 558 Fed.Appx. 11 (1st Cir. 2014) (affirming Board’s determination in denying application for asylum, that alien did not have well-founded fear of religiously-based persecution if she were removed to China, given State Department reports indicating that there were many areas of China where she could openly practice Christianity). None of the arguments raised by the respondent on appeal would cause us to otherwise disturb the Immigration Judge’s decision in this regard.

Chen then filed this timely petition for review of the BIA’s dismissal of her appeal. 1

II.

We “review[ ] the BIA’s decision as well as any portions of the IJ’s opinion adopted by the BIA.” Peña-Beltre v. Holder, 622 F.3d 57, 61 (1st Cir. 2010). We conduct our review of the BIA’s factual determination of an applicant’s eligibility for asylum under the substantial evidence standard, which instructs us to affirm the BIA “so long as its decision is supported by substantial evidence in the record.” Topalli v. Gonzales, 417 F.3d 128, 131 (1st Cir. 2005) (quoting Rodriguez-Ramirez v. Ashcroft, 398 F.3d 120, 123 (1st Cir. 2005)); see also Yu v. Gonzales, 502 F.3d 17, 19 (1st Cir. 2007). The standard is deferential: “[Ujnless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary,” we must affirm the BIA’s determination. 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B); Topalli, 417 F.3d at 131.

Chen bears the burden of establishing her refugee status. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(a). She may do so by demonstrating that she is “unwilling to return to [China] ... because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A).

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833 F.3d 40, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 14715, 2016 WL 4206374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chen-qin-v-lynch-ca1-2016.