10-0537-ag
Jian Zhao Lin v. Holder
BIA
Van Wyke, IJ
A098 715 440
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
SUMMARY ORDER
RULINGS BY SUM M ARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A
SUM M ARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERM ITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY
FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1. WHEN
CITING A SUM M ARY ORDER IN A DOCUM ENT FILED W ITH THIS COURT, A PARTY M UST CITE
EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (W ITH THE NOTATION
“SUM M ARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUM M ARY ORDER M UST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY
PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.
1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at
2 the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of New
3 York, on the 6 th day of January, two thousand ten.
4
5 PRESENT: PIERRE N. LEVAL,
6 GUIDO CALABRESI,
7 GERARD E. LYNCH,
8 Circuit Judges.
9
10 ------------------------------------------------------------------
11 JIAN ZHAO LIN,
12 Petitioner,
13 v. No. 10-537-ag
14
15 ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., UNITED STATES
16 ATTORNEY GENERAL,
17 Respondent.
18 --------------------------------------------------------------------
19
20 FOR PETITIONER: GARY J. YERMAN, New York, New York.
21
22
23 FOR RESPONDENT: JESSICA R.C. MALLOY, Trial Attorney (Paul
24 Fiorino, Senior Litigation Counsel, Karen L.
25 Melnik, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration
26 Litigation, on brief) for Tony West, Assistant
27 Attorney General, Civil Division, United States
28 Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
29
1 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND
2 DECREED that the petition for review is DENIED.
3 Petitioner Jian Zhao Lin, a native and citizen of the People’s Republic of China, was
4 initially granted asylum by Immigration Judge (“IJ”) William Van Wyke. The Board of
5 Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) reversed. Lin now asks us to vacate that decision, alleging
6 error in the BIA’s review of the IJ. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the relevant facts
7 and law.
8 In these circumstances, we review the BIA’s decision rather than the IJ’s. See Ming
9 Xia Chen v. Bd. of Immigration Appeals, 435 F.3d 141, 144 (2d Cir. 2006). We examine
10 findings of fact for substantial evidence, treating them as “conclusive unless any reasonable
11 adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary.” 8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(4)(B). We
12 review de novo questions of law and the application of law to fact. See Salimatou Bah v.
13 Mukasey, 529 F.3d 99, 110 (2d Cir. 2008).
14 Lin argues that the BIA gave only lip service to its rule requiring clear-error review
15 of facts, see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(d)(3)(I), while actually reviewing the IJ’s factual findings de
16 novo. Lin’s appeal raises interesting questions that we need not answer here, because we
17 agree with the BIA that, in Lin’s case, insufficient evidence supported the IJ’s finding –
18 whether considered factual or legal – that Lin had a well-founded fear of persecution.
19 As the BIA noted, Lin’s claim of a well-founded fear of persecution was predicated
20 “on a series of speculative events.” The IJ determined that Lin could face persecution if
21 Chinese authorities (1) detain him upon entry, (2) discover his background and family, (3)
2
1 elicit his opposition to the policies of China through interrogation, and (4) subject him to
2 prolonged detention and physical abuse. The BIA, without disputing that such a chain of
3 events might be possible, found the possibility too remote to suffice without more specific
4 evidence. We agree. Indeed, we have similarly rejected a fear of persecution that is
5 “speculative at best” as grounds for asylum. Jian Xing Huang v. U.S. Immigration &
6 Naturalization Serv., 421 F.3d 125, 129 (2d Cir. 2005).
7 We also agree with the BIA that the one piece of specific, concrete evidence that Lin
8 offered to show the possibility of his persecution cannot support the weight he places on it.
9 Lin testified that his brother was detained for one week after returning to China from
10 Thailand, and was beaten during his detention. The BIA correctly concluded that this
11 testimony – which included no account of who beat the brother and why – does not provide
12 “sufficient detail to determine the circumstances of [Lin’s] brother’s return . . . and whether
13 [the brother] was similarly situated to [Lin].” Such testimony “would not be probative even
14 if believed because [Lin] omitted any evidence that might bear on whether [Lin] might be in
15 similar circumstances” to the brother. Id.; see also Marta Brigida Melgar de Torres v. Reno,
16 191 F.3d 307, 313 (2d. Cir. 1999) (upholding rejection of asylum claim where petitioner
17 presented no direct evidence of the circumstances surrounding uncle’s death). We therefore
18 find that, whatever standard of review the BIA did apply or should have applied, its decision
19 to reverse the IJ was correct.
20 For essentially the same reasons, we also hold that substantial evidence supports the
21 BIA’s finding that Lin is not eligible for asylum.
3
1 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is DENIED. As we have completed
2 our review, Lin’s pending motion for a stay of removal is DISMISSED as moot.
3
4
5 FOR THE COURT:
6 CATHERINE O’HAGAN WOLFE, Clerk of Court
7
4