You Zhong Liu v. Holder

13-652 Liu v. Holder BIA A097 957 381 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 5th day of September, two thousand fourteen. 5 6 PRESENT: 7 JOHN M. WALKER, JR., 8 ROSEMARY S. POOLER, 9 BARRINGTON D. PARKER, 10 Circuit Judges. 11 _____________________________________ 12 13 YOU ZHONG LIU, AKA YOUZHONG LIU, 14 Petitioner, 15 16 v. 13-652 17 NAC 18 ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., UNITED STATES 19 ATTORNEY GENERAL, 20 Respondent. 21 _____________________________________ 22 23 FOR PETITIONER: Donglai Yang, The Law Offices of 24 Donglai Yang, LLC, New Orleans, LA. 25 26 FOR RESPONDENT: Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney 27 General; David V. Bernal, Assistant 28 Director; Yedidya Cohen, Trial 29 Attorney; Rebecca E. Dames, Law 30 Clerk, 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 Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby 3 ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review 4 is DENIED. 5 Petitioner You Zhong Liu, a native and citizen of 6 China, seeks review of a January 22, 2013, decision of the 7 BIA denying his motion to reopen his removal proceedings. 8 In re You Zhong Liu, No. A097 957 381 (B.I.A. Jan. 22, 9 2013). We assume the parties’ familiarity with the 10 underlying facts and procedural history in 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) (per curiam). An alien seeking to reopen 14 proceedings is required to file a motion to reopen no later 15 than 90 days after the date on which the final 16 administrative decision. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C); 8 17 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2). Although there is no dispute that 18 Liu’s 2012 motion to reopen was untimely because the BIA 19 issued a final order of removal in 2007, the time limitation 20 does not apply to a motion to reopen “based on changed 21 country conditions arising in the country of nationality . . 22 . if such evidence is material and was not available and 2 1 would not have been discovered or presented at the previous 2 proceeding.” 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii). 3 However, Liu’s religious practice in the United States 4 constitutes a changed personal circumstance, which is 5 insufficient to excuse the untimely filing of his motion to 6 reopen. See Wei Guang Wang v. BIA, 437 F.3d 270, 273-74 (2d 7 Cir. 2006). Contrary to Liu’s contention, if more than 90 8 days have passed since the order of removal, an alien 9 seeking to file a successive asylum application must first 10 show changed country conditions. See Yuen Jin v. Mukasey, 11 538 F.3d 143, 151-52 (2d Cir. 2008). 12 Moreover, Liu’s evidence does not compel the conclusion 13 that China’s treatment of Christians has worsened since the 14 time of his merits hearing. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B) 15 (BIA’s factual findings are “conclusive unless any 16 reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the 17 contrary”); In re S-Y-G-, 24 I. & N. Dec. 247, 253 (B.I.A. 18 2007). The recent country reports submitted to show changed 19 conditions with respect to the treatment of Christians do 20 not materially differ from the reports submitted at the time 21 of Liu’s hearing. Finally, as Liu did not include his 22 family planning claim in the asylum application he attached 3 1 to his motion to reopen, the BIA properly declined to 2 consider it. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c). 3 4 FOR THE COURT: 5 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 6 7 4