13-134
Lin v. Holder
BIA
A073 554 915
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 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 United
3 States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York,
4 on the 28th day of February, two thousand fourteen.
5
6 PRESENT:
7 JOSÉ A. CABRANES,
8 RICHARD C. WESLEY,
9 CHRISTOPHER F. DRONEY,
10 Circuit Judges.
11 _____________________________________
12
13 FENG LIN,
14 Petitioner,
15
16 v. 13-134
17 NAC
18 ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., UNITED STATES
19 ATTORNEY GENERAL,
20 Respondent.
21 _____________________________________
22
23 FOR PETITIONER: Khagendra Gharti-Chhetry, New York,
24 New York.
25
26 FOR RESPONDENT: Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney
27 General; Russell J.E. Verby, Senior
28 Litigation Counsel; John D.
29 Williams, Trial Attorney, Civil
30 Division, Office of Immigration
31 Litigation, United States Department
32 of Justice, Washington, D.C.
1 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a
2 decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), it is
3 hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for
4 review is DENIED.
5 Feng Lin, a native and citizen of the People’s Republic
6 of China, seeks review of a December 26, 2012, order of the
7 BIA denying her motion to reopen proceedings. See In re
8 Feng Li, No. A073 554 915 (B.I.A. Dec. 26, 2012). We assume
9 the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts and
10 procedural history of this case.
11 We review the BIA’s denial of a motion to reopen for
12 abuse of discretion. See Ali v. Gonzales, 448 F.3d 515, 517
13 (2d Cir. 2006). We review the agency’s factual findings
14 regarding country conditions under the substantial evidence
15 standard. Shao v. Mukasey, 546 F.3d 138, 169 (2d Cir.
16 2008). There is no dispute that Lin’s motion to reopen,
17 filed in 2012, was untimely because the BIA issued a final
18 order of removal in 2001. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(I)
19 (setting forth 90-day deadline for filing to reopen); 8
20 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2) (same).
21 To the extent Lin argues that her conversion to
22 Christianity excuses the untimeliness of her motion to
23 reopen, her conversion is a change in her personal
2
1 circumstances, not a change in conditions in China as
2 required to excuse the 90-day time limit. See 8 U.S.C.
3 § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii); Wang v. BIA, 437 F.3d 270, 273-74 (2d
4 Cir. 2006) (clarifying that limitations on motions to reopen
5 may not be suspended because of a “self-induced change in
6 personal circumstances” that is “entirely of [the
7 applicant’s] own making after being ordered to leave the
8 United States”).
9 Further, the agency did not err in finding that Lin
10 failed to present sufficient evidence of changed conditions
11 in China. First, the BIA was not required to credit Lin’s
12 individualized evidence given the earlier adverse
13 credibility determination. See Qin Wen Zheng v. Gonzales,
14 500 F.3d 143, 147 (2d Cir. 2007). The agency also
15 reasonably rejected Lin’s own statement, and those from her
16 daughter and sister, as unsworn and/or submitted by
17 interested parties. See Matter of H-L-H- & Z-Y-Z-, 25 I. &
18 N. Dec. 209, 215 (BIA 2010) (rejecting affidavits from
19 applicant’s friends and relatives because they were prepared
20 by “interested witnesses”), remanded in part on other
21 grounds by Hui Lin Huang v. Holder, 677 F.3d 130 (2d Cir.
22 2012). Further, Lin’s objective evidence of country
3
1 conditions was unrelated to religious persecution or related
2 to repression of religion in Hong Kong, Macau and Tibet, but
3 not in her province of Fujian in mainland China.
4 Accordingly, nothing in the record compels the conclusion
5 that there has been a material change in conditions in
6 China, as required to overcome the time limitation. See 8
7 U.S.C. §§ 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii), 1252(b)(4)(B) (The BIA’s
8 factual findings are “conclusive unless any reasonable
9 adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the
10 contrary.”).
11 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is
12 DENIED. As we have completed our review, any stay of
13 removal that the Court previously granted in this petition
14 is VACATED, and any pending motion for a stay of removal in
15 this petition is DISMISSED as moot. Any pending request for
16 oral argument in this petition is DENIED in accordance with
17 Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second
18 Circuit Local Rule 34.1(b).
19 FOR THE COURT:
20 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
21
22
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