Yanling Li v. U.S. Attorney General

683 F. App'x 833
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided March 29, 2017·No. 16-13484 Non-Argument Calendar·Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Yanling Li, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of an order that affirmed the denial of her applications for asylum and withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158(b), 1231(b)(3). The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the findings of the immigration judge that Li failed to establish she had suffered past persecution or had a well-founded fear of future persecution based on her participation in an unregistered church in China. We deny Li’s petition.

Because the Board agreed with the findings of the immigration judge, we review both their decisions. Ayala v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 605 F.3d 941, 947-48 (11th Cir. 2010). We review de novo the legal conclusions of the Board and the immigration judge, and we review related findings of fact for substantial evidence. Id. at 948. The substantial evidence test requires that we affirm the decision so long as it is “supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole.” Id. (quoting Silva v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 448 F.3d 1229, 1236 (11th Cir. 2006)). We can reverse “only when the record compels a reversal; the mere fact that the record may support a contrary conclusion is not enough to justify a reversal of the administrative findings.” Adefemi v. Ashcroft, 386 F.3d 1022, 1027 (11th Cir. 2004) (en banc).

The Attorney General has authority to grant asylum to an alien who qualifies as a “refugee.” 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(A). A refugee is “any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality ,.. who is unable or unwilling to return to .., [or] to avail him or herself of the protection of that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of ... religion.” Id. § 1101(a)(42)(A). To attain refugee status, *835 an alien must present specific and credible evidence that she had been persecuted earlier or has a well-founded fear that she will face persecution based on one of the protected grounds. Ruiz v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 440 F.3d 1247, 1257 (11th Cir. 2006) (citing 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(l)(B)(i)).

Persecution is an “extreme concept” requiring evidence of more than harassment or “a few isolated incidents of verbal harassment or intimidation.” Sepulveda v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 401 F.3d 1226, 1231 (11th Cir. 2005). We evaluate the harms suffered cumulatively in determining whether an alien was persecuted. Shi v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 707 F.3d 1231, 1235 (11th Cir. 2013). A well-founded fear of future persecution exists only if the alien establishes that there is a reasonable possibility she will be singled out for persecution on account of a protected ground and that her fear of persecution is “subjectively genuine and objectively reasonable.” Kazemzadeh v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 577 F.3d 1341, 1352 (11th Cir. 2009). Alternatively, the alien can present evidence that she is a member of, or is identified with, a group that is subject to a “pattern or practice” of persecution. Id,

“Minor physical abuse and brief detentions do not amount to persecution.” Id. at 1353. Evidence that an alien was imprisoned for 36 hours in a small cell with 12 people, forced to drink a “very dirty liquid” and eat something “very bad,” and endured being hit with a belt and kicked, which caused lacerations and bruising that required treatment for two days in a hospital did not compel a finding of persecution in Djonda v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 514 F.3d 1168, 1171, 1174 (11th Cir. 2008). Nor, we concluded, was an alien persecuted when he was imprisoned for four days, during which he was interrogated for five hours and beaten, and was monitored after his release. Kazemzadeh, 577 F.3d at 1353. And in Zheng v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 451 F.3d 1287 (11th Cir. 2006), we concluded that evidence of an alien being imprisoned for five days, forced to watch reeducation videos, stand in the sun for two hours, and sign a pledge agreeing to forsake his religion did not establish past persecution. Id. at 1289, 1291-92.

Exposure to a variety of harms for a prolonged period can rise to the level of persecution. For example, in Shi we concluded that an alien suffered past persecution when officials barged into his father’s home, confiscated bibles, imprisoned him for seven days, subjected him to two interrogations during which he was assaulted while being questioned about his church and accused of traitorous conduct, and handcuffed him to an iron bar located outside where he remained overnight in the rain. 707 F.3d at 1232-33. That “sequence of experiences,” we held, amounted to “extreme and egregious” maltreatment that constituted persecution. Id. at 1235; see Niftaliev v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 504 F.3d 1211 (11th Cir. 2007) (the cumulative effect of beatings, arrests, searches, interrogations, being imprisoned for 15 days during which he was given little food or water and threatened with being shot, and continuing to be stalked, threatened, and assaulted after relocating amounted to past persecution). Shi being imprisoned for a week and undergoing two interrogations during which he was slapped in the face, threatened with more serious harm, and had a chair kicked out from under him was more grievous than the experiences of the aliens in Djonda and Zheng who, we explained, were subject to shorter “detention[s] combined with some physical abuse.” Shi, 707 F.3d at 1237. Those aliens, we explained, had not also endured a church raid, impounding of their religious materials, and the “singularly cruel ... tactic” perpetrated on Shi of being shackled to a post and exposed to harsh weather. Id. at 1237-39. And, disparate from the aliens in Djonda *836 and Zheng, Shi’s ordeal did not end until after officials sensed he might die from a high fever and sore throat. Id. at 1237-38. The brutalities heaped on Shi “[rose] to the extreme level required to compel a finding of persecution.” Id. at 1239.

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Yanling Li v. U.S. Attorney General, 683 F. App'x 833 (11th Cir. 2017).

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