Yan Qing Chen v. Attorney General of the United States

235 F. App'x 954
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided June 12, 2007·No. No. 06-2316·Published

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge.

On March 13, 2001, Yan Qing Chen, a native and citizen of the People’s Republic of China, filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. Chen maintained that Chinese government officials dragged her from her home, drugged her, and forced her to undergo an abortion. After a short hearing, the Immigration Judge (“U”) denied Chen’s appli[956] cation and concluded that her claim was frivolous pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1158(d)(6). The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) summarily affirmed. Chen now petitions for review of the Board’s decision. For the following reasons, we will deny the Petition on all grounds.

I.

The parties are familiar with the facts and proceedings before the BIA and the IJ, so we will only briefly revisit them here. Chen, a 32-year-old Chinese national, illegally entered the United States in the spring of 2000. Upon arriving in this country, Chen met and married another Chinese citizen, Zi Hui Tang. On May 23, 2001, she gave birth to the couple’s baby daughter at Nesbitt Memorial Hospital in Kingston, Pennsylvania. Additionally in May, she filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”).

At a hearing in front of an immigration judge, Chen testified that she became pregnant in China at the age of 19. She also alleged that the Chinese government forced her to undergo an abortion and that she would face persecution if she ever returned to China on account of her desire to have more children. In support of her application, Chen submitted an “abortion certificate,” which purports to show that she had an abortion in China. Chen stated that she obtained the abortion certificate to prove to her parents that she had undergone an abortion procedure.

Strangely, Chen also presented medical records from her pregnancy in the United States that contradicted her testimony. A 2001 patient history form, completed by Chen’s doctor, and using Chen’s husband as a translator, indicates that Chen’s pregnancy in China ended with a “miscarriage [at] 2 mos,” not a forced abortion. App. 222. A checkbox on the same form also suggests that Chen had previously suffered a miscarriage. Id. The operative report from Chen’s Cesarean section further contradicted her account of events. That form , indicated Chen had never been pregnant before coming to the United States. When questioned about the discrepancy between her testimony and her medical records, Chen insisted she was telling the truth. She hypothesized that her husband mistranslated some of the complicated medical terminology.

■ At the conclusion of the hearing, the IJ rendered an oral decision denying the application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under CAT. Judge Malloy found Chen’s testimony “incredible” and “fabricated.” The IJ questioned the veracity of Chen’s testimony surrounding the abortion certificate and her attempt to explain the information contained in the American medical records. The IJ also deemed the application frivolous under 8 U.S.C. § 1158(d)(6).

Chen appealed to the BIA, where she made two arguments: first, that she had not presented a frivolous application and, second, that the, IJ erred in determining she was not eligible for asylum. On March 22, 2006, the Board summarily affirmed the IJ’s decision. Chen then filed this timely Petition for Review. We have jurisdiction to hear the Petition under 8 U.S.C. § 1252.

II.

We begin our analysis with a brief discussion of the appropriate scope and standard of review. Where, as here, the BIA merely .adopts the decision of the IJ, this Court reviews the IJ’s opinion. See Abdulai v. Ashcroft, 239 F.3d 542, 549 n. 2 (3d Cir.2001). On questions of fact, including credibility assessments, we ’limit our review to determining whether the IJ’s findings are supported by substantial evidence. [957] Tarrawally v. Ashcroft, 338 F.3d 180, 184 (3d Cir.2003). We may decline to uphold the IJ’s decisions only where the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B).

III.

At the heart of the Petition for Review, Chen argues that the IJ denied her request for asylum on the basis of an erroneous credibility determination. Under the precedent of this Court, aliens applying for asylum must provide credible testimony and evidence in support of their applications for asylum. Gao v. Ashcroft, 299 F.3d 266, 272 (3d Cir.2002). Here, the IJ concluded that the Chen’s medical records and the “abortion certifícate” directly undermined her credibility.

In response, Chen first contends that the IJ’s findings were not supported by substantial evidence. She argues that the IJ placed undue weight on her American medical records — records that contradict themselves. The typed post-operative report from the surgeon who performed Chen’s Cesarean section states that Chen had never been pregnant before coming to the United States. Her handwritten patient history form, which was completed using information that she provided to her doctor, via her husband’s translation, tells a different tale. It states that Chen became pregnant in China and that her pregnancy ended in miscarriage, not an induced abortion. The reliability of this information is bolstered by a notation made in not one, but two, places. The first indication is a checkbox on the patient history form, and the second is a handwritten entry further down the page under the heading “past pregnancies.” Although we acknowledge that the medical records are not a model of consistency, we do not accept Chen’s argument that the IJ’s decision is not supported by substantial evidence. The central point is this: every piece of evidence in these records contradicts Chen story that she suffered an intentionally induced abortion.

Chen suggests that the inconsistencies are attributable to her husband’s poor command of English rather than deception. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support Chen’s contention; neither her doctor nor her husband testified at trial. We also note that Chen’s husband successfully translated myriad other, equally technical, medical terms. Accordingly, we cannot say that a reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to find Chen’s testimony credible.

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Yan Qing Chen v. Attorney General of the United States, 235 F. App'x 954 (3d Cir. 2007).

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