16-2900
Zhou v. Sessions
BIA
Vomacka, IJ
A205 429 496
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 TO 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 for
2 the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States
3 Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the
4 8th day of September, two thousand seventeen.
5
6 PRESENT:
7 GUIDO CALABRESI,
8 ROBERT D. SACK,
9 DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON,
10 Circuit Judges.
11 _____________________________________
12
13 QIAN JING ZHOU,
14 Petitioner,
15
16 v. 16-2900
17 NAC
18 JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, UNITED
19 STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL,
20 Respondent.
21 _____________________________________
22
23 FOR PETITIONER: Gerald Karikari, New York, NY.
24
25 FOR RESPONDENT: Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant
26 Attorney General; John S. Hogan,
27 Assistant Director; Lindsay
28 Corliss, Trial Attorney, Office of
29 Immigration Litigation, United
30 States Department of Justice,
31 Washington, DC.
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 is
4 DENIED.
5 Petitioner Qian Jing Zhou, a native and citizen of the
6 People’s Republic of China, seeks review of a July 29, 2016,
7 decision of the BIA, affirming a July 20, 2015, decision of an
8 Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying Zhou’s application for asylum,
9 withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against
10 Torture (“CAT”). In re Qian Jing Zhou, No. A205 429 496 (B.I.A.
11 July 29, 2016), aff’g No. A205 429 496 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City
12 July 20, 2015). We assume the parties’ familiarity with the
13 underlying facts and procedural history in this case.
14 We have reviewed the IJ’s decision as modified by the BIA,
15 and so address only the adverse credibility determination. See
16 Xue Hong Yang v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 426 F.3d 520, 522 (2d
17 Cir. 2005). The applicable standards of review are well
18 established. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B); Xiu Xia Lin v.
19 Mukasey, 534 F.3d 162, 165-66 (2d Cir. 2008) (reviewing adverse
20 credibility determinations for substantial evidence).
21 For asylum applications like Zhou’s, governed by the REAL
22 ID Act, the agency may, “[c]onsidering the totality of the
23 circumstances,” base a credibility finding on inconsistencies
2
1 and omissions in an applicant’s statements and evidence,
2 “without regard to whether” those inconsistencies go “to the
3 heart of the applicant’s claim.” 8 U.S.C.
4 § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii); Xiu Xia Lin, 534 F.3d at 163-64 & 166 n.3.
5 However, the more central an inconsistency is to a claim of past
6 persecution, the more substantial it is. See Xian Tuan Ye v.
7 Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 446 F.3d 289, 295 (2d Cir. 2006). “We
8 defer . . . to an IJ’s credibility determination unless, from
9 the totality of the circumstances, it is plain that no
10 reasonable fact-finder could make such an adverse credibility
11 ruling.” Xiu Xia Lin, 534 F.3d at 167. We conclude that the
12 agency’s adverse credibility determination rests on
13 substantial evidence.
14 The agency reasonably found Zhou not credible based on the
15 omission from the church letter of her arrest and detention,
16 which was the event central to her claim of persecution. See
17 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii); Xian Tuan Ye, 446 F.3d at 295
18 (“[A] material inconsistency in an aspect of [an applicant’s]
19 story that served as an example of the very persecution from
20 which he sought asylum . . . afforded substantial evidence to
21 support the adverse credibility finding.”); Xiu Xia Lin, 534
22 F.3d at 166-67 & n.3 (“An inconsistency and an omission
23 are . . . functionally equivalent” for credibility purposes).
3
1 Zhou’s fluctuating and contradictory explanations do not compel
2 a different conclusion because she expressly testified that the
3 letter was offered to corroborate her alleged arrest and
4 detention. See Majidi v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 77, 80 (2d Cir.
5 2005) (“A petitioner must do more than offer a plausible
6 explanation for his inconsistent statements to secure relief;
7 he must demonstrate that a reasonable fact-finder would be
8 compelled to credit his testimony.” (internal quotation marks
9 omitted).
10 The IJ also reasonably declined to otherwise afford weight
11 to the church letter, finding it questionable and implausible
12 that an underground church in China, operating secretly, would
13 need a letterhead and seal for its documents. “We defer to the
14 agency’s determination of the weight afforded to an alien’s
15 documentary evidence.” Y.C. v. Holder, 741 F.3d 324, 334 (2d
16 Cir. 2013); Xiao Ji Chen v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 471 F.3d 315,
17 342 (2d Cir. 2006) (holding that weight afforded to evidence
18 is largely within IJ’s discretion). This inference was
19 sufficiently grounded in record and was not “based on
20 speculation,” given Zhou’s testimony that her church was small
21 in order to avoid detection by the police. Siewe v. Gonzales,
22 480 F.3d 160, 168-69 (2d Cir. 2007) (an implausibility finding
23 based on inference is reasonable if grounded in “record facts,
4
1 or even a single fact, viewed in the light of common sense and
2 ordinary experience”). Zhou’s argument that the IJ erred in
3 requiring official authentication is misplaced. Cf. Cao He Lin
4 v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 428 F.3d 391 (2d Cir. 2006). Here,
5 the IJ simply questioned the veracity of the church letter as
6 “uncharacteristic of a small informal underground house church
7 seeking to remain secret.” We “afford IJs considerable
8 flexibility in determining the authenticity of such documents
9 from the totality of the evidence and in using documents found
10 to be authentic in making an overall assessment of the
11 credibility of a petitioner’s testimony and, ultimately, of her
12 persecution claim.” Shunfu Li v. Mukasey, 529 F.3d 141, 149
13 (2d Cir. 2008); see also Siewe, 480 F.3d at 167 (“Decisions as
14 to . . . which of competing inferences to draw are entirely
15 within the province of the trier of fact.” (internal quotation
16 marks omitted)).
17 Nor did the IJ err in declining to give weight to the
18 remainder of the corroborating evidence or in finding it
19 insufficient to rehabilitate Zhou’s claim. “An applicant’s
20 failure to corroborate his . . . testimony may bear on
21 credibility, because the absence of corroboration in general
22 makes an applicant unable to rehabilitate testimony that has
23 already been called into question.” Biao Yang v. Gonzales, 496
5
1 F.3d 268, 273 (2d Cir. 2007); see also 8 U.S.C.
2 § 1158(b)(1)(B)(ii). Zhou provided no objective evidence to
3 corroborate her husband’s testimony that he attended church in
4 the U.S. with her and the IJ reasonably gave his testimony
5 diminished weight: the church letters did not mention him, he
6 previously applied for asylum based on a different form of
7 Christianity, and he was an interested witness. See Y.C., 741
8 F.3d at 334; Xiao Ji Chen, 471 F.3d at 342. Nor did the country
9 conditions evidence rehabilitate the claim. As the IJ found,
10 the background evidence in the record identified no incidents
11 of persecution in Zhou’s home province of Fujian. See Jian Hui
12 Shao v. Mukasey, 546 F.3d 138, 142, 148, 156-57, 165, 170 (2d
13 Cir. 2008).
14 Given the inconsistencies concerning the sole incident of
15 past harm, it cannot be said “that no reasonable fact-finder
16 could make such an adverse credibility ruling.” Xiu Xia Lin,
17 534 F.3d at 167; Xian Tuan Ye, 446 F.3d at 295. The adverse
18 credibility determination is dispositive of asylum,
19 withholding of removal, and CAT relief because all three forms
20 of relief are based on the same factual predicate. Paul v.
21 Gonzales, 444 F.3d 148, 156-57 (2d Cir. 2006).
22 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is
23 DENIED. As we have completed our review, any stay of removal
6
1 that the Court previously granted in this petition is VACATED,
2 and any pending motion for a stay of removal in this petition
3 is DISMISSED as moot. Any pending request for oral argument
4 in this petition is DENIED in accordance with Federal Rule of
5 Appellate Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second Circuit Local Rule
6 34.1(b).
7 FOR THE COURT:
8 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
7