Shijie Lin v. Sessions
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Opinion
17-842 Shijie Lin v. Sessions BIA Poczter, IJ A208 154 298 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT=S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING TO A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.
1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall 3 United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of 4 New York, on the 8th day of June, two thousand eighteen. 5 6 PRESENT: 7 JOHN M. WALKER, JR., 8 GUIDO CALABRESI, 9 JOSÉ A. CABRANES, 10 Circuit Judges. 11 _____________________________________ 12 13 SHIJIE LIN, 14 Petitioner, 15 16 v. 17-842 17 NAC 18 JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, 19 UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, 20 Respondent. 21 _____________________________________ 22 23 FOR PETITIONER: Norman Kwai Wing Wong, New York, 24 NY. 25 26 FOR RESPONDENT: Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant 27 Attorney General; Jonathan A. 28 Robbins, Senior Litigation 29 Counsel; Tracey N. McDonald, Trial 1 Attorney, Office of Immigration 2 Litigation, United States 3 Department of Justice, Washington, 4 DC. 5 6 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a
7 Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby
8 ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review
9 is DENIED.
10 Petitioner Shijie Lin, a native and citizen of the
11 People’s Republic of China, seeks review of a March 8, 2017,
12 decision of the BIA affirming a July 5, 2016, decision of an
13 Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying his application for asylum,
14 withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention
15 Against Torture (“CAT”). In re Lin Shijie, No. A 208 154 298
16 (B.I.A. Mar. 8, 2017), aff’g No. A 208 154 298 (Immig. Ct.
17 N.Y. City July 5, 2016). We assume the parties’ familiarity
18 with the underlying facts and procedural history in this case.
19 Under the circumstances of this case, we have reviewed
20 both the IJ’s decision and the BIA’s decision “for the sake
21 of completeness.” Wangchuck v. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 448
22 F.3d 524, 528 (2d Cir. 2006). The standards of review are
2 1 well established. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B); Xiu Xia Lin
2 v. Mukasey, 534 F.3d 162, 165-66 (2d Cir. 2008).
3 The agency may, “[c]onsidering the totality of the
4 circumstances,” base an adverse credibility determination on
5 inconsistencies or omissions in an applicant’s oral and
6 written statements and other record evidence, regardless of
7 whether any such discrepancies “go[] to the heart of the
8 applicant’s claim.” 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii); Xiu Xia
9 Lin, 534 F.3d at 163-64, 166-67. “We defer . . . to an IJ’s
10 credibility determination unless . . . it is plain that no
11 reasonable fact-finder could make such an adverse credibility
12 ruling.” Xiu Xia Lin, 534 F.3d at 167. The adverse
13 credibility determination is supported by substantial
14 evidence.
15 The agency reasonably relied on a series of
16 inconsistencies and omissions relating to Shijie Lin’s
17 allegations of past harm. First, as the IJ found, Shijie Lin
18 testified to receiving medical treatment following his
19 detention, but his application and his father’s letter
20 omitted that information. See id. (upholding agency’s
21 reliance on omissions from supporting letters). 3 1 Although “asylum applicants are not required to list every
2 incident of persecution” in their applications, Pavlova v.
3 INS, 441 F.3d 82, 90 (2d Cir. 2006), where, as here, an asylum
4 application otherwise contained detailed information about
5 events, the IJ’s reliance on the omission was reasonable, see
6 Lianping Li v. Lynch, 839 F.3d 144, 150 (2d Cir. 2016)
7 (affirming adverse credibility determination when
8 petitioner’s “asylum application did not simply omit
9 incidents of persecution . . . [but rather] described the
10 same incidents of persecution differently”). The agency was
11 not required to credit Shijie Lin’s explanation that both he
12 and his father omitted the treatment because it was brief and
13 at a private clinic. See Majidi v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 77,
14 80-81 (2d Cir. 2005) (“A petitioner must do more than offer
15 a plausible explanation for his inconsistent statements to
16 secure relief; he must demonstrate that a reasonable fact-
17 finder would be compelled to credit his testimony.” (internal
18 quotation marks omitted)).
19 Second, the agency also reasonably relied on Shijie Lin’s
20 inconsistent descriptions of his beating. See Lianping Li,
21 839 F.3d at 150. Shijie Lin testified that he was struck 4 1 three or four times with a wooden rod on the day of his
2 arrest. But in response to the credible fear interviewer
3 asking “[h]ow many times did they hit you with the wooden rod
4 the day you were arrested,” Shijie Lin stated that he was
5 only struck once. Given the precise question at the
6 interview, the IJ reasonably relied on this inconsistency.
7 See Ming Zhang v. Holder, 585 F.3d 715, 724-25 (2d Cir. 2009)
8 (explaining that one sign of reliability of an interview is
9 whether the interviewer asked questions designed to elicit a
10 possible asylum claim). Although Shijie Lin’s interpretation
11 that he meant one beating, not one strike, is plausible, the
12 IJ’s alternate interpretation is also supported by the
13 record. See Siewe v. Gonzales, 480 F.3d 160, 167 (2d Cir.
14 2007) (“Where there are two permissible views of the evidence,
15 the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly
16 erroneous. . . . Rather, a reviewing court must defer to that
17 choice so long as the deductions are not illogical or
18 implausible.” (internal citations and quotation marks
19 omitted)).
20 Third and finally, the agency reasonably relied on
21 inconsistent statements about whether Shijie Lin’s aunt 5 1 called to warn him that the police were looking for him. See
2 Xiu Xia Lin, 534 F.3d at 167. Shijie Lin testified that his
3 aunt called, but her letter omitted that fact and mentions
4 only that Shijie Lin’s mother called her to say Shijie Lin
5 would be arriving at her home. Shijie Lin did not have a
6 compelling explanation for the omission. See Majidi, 430
7 F.3d at 80.
8 Taken as a whole, these inconsistencies and omissions
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