FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUL 22 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
SEI JIANG, No. 09-70568
Petitioner, Agency No. A072-993-324
v.
MEMORANDUM *
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted July 12, 2011 **
Before: SCHROEDER, ALARCÓN, and LEAVY, Circuit Judges.
Sei Jiang, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of the Board of
Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order denying his motion to reopen removal
proceedings. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review for abuse of
discretion the denial of a motion to reopen, review de novo questions of law, and
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
review for substantial evidence the BIA’s factual findings. Mohammed v.
Gonzales, 400 F.3d 785, 791-92 (9th Cir. 2005). We grant the petition for review,
and remand for further proceedings.
The BIA abused its discretion by denying Jiang’s motion to reopen where
Jiang submitted a notice from his local family planning committee indicating that a
Chinese citizen with two children would be targeted for sterilization. See Tang v.
Gonzales, 489 F.3d 987, 990 (9th Cir. 2007) (defining the term “forced” at 8
U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(B) broadly as “compelling, obliging, or constraining by
mental, moral, or circumstantial means”). In addition, substantial evidence does
not support the BIA’s determination that Jiang failed to show that his spouse and
two United States citizen children would return to China where Jiang’s declaration
avers that they would accompany him if he were removed to China. See Celis-
Castellano v. Ashcroft, 298 F.3d 888, 892 (9th Cir. 2002) (“[T]he Board must
accept as true the facts stated in an alien’s affidavit in ruling upon his motion to
reopen unless it finds those facts to be inherently unbelievable.”) (internal
quotation marks and citations omitted). We therefore remand for the BIA to
reconsider Jiang’s changed country conditions claim in light of this disposition.
We need not reach Jiang’s remaining contentions.
PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED; REMANDED.
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