NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS NOV 24 2017
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
GUANGXIA ZUO; et al., No. 14-73786
Petitioners, Agency Nos. A200-274-286
A200-274-287
v. A200-274-288
JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney
General, MEMORANDUM*
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted November 9, 2017
Pasadena, California
Before: REINHARDT and WARDLAW, Circuit Judges, and DANIEL, ** District
Judge.
Guangxia Zuo, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of a
decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), dismissing her appeal of a
removal order denying her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and
protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The Honorable Wiley Y. Daniel, United States District Judge for the
U.S. District Court for Colorado, sitting by designation.
under 8 U.S.C. § 1252, and reviewing the BIA decision for substantial
evidence, Ahmed v. Keisler, 504 F.3d 1183, 1191 (9th Cir. 2007), we grant the
petition for review.
1. The BIA’s adverse credibility finding, based on two minor omissions in
Zuo’s application and its belief that she did not adequately explain those
omissions, was not supported by substantial evidence and is reversed. See Lai v.
Holder, 773 F.3d 966 (9th Cir. 2014).
2. The BIA’s alternative finding that, “even assuming credibility,” Zuo did
not establish a well-founded fear of religious persecution in China, was not
supported by substantial evidence. Zuo demonstrated a particularized threat
beyond the generalized risk to all practitioners of the I-Kuan Tao religion. See
Al-Harbi v. I.N.S., 242 F.3d 882, 888 (9th Cir. 2001). The BIA’s finding as to
well-founded fear is reversed. We remand for a grant of withholding of removal
and consideration of a grant of asylum. We do not reach the merits of Zuo’s CAT
claim because we grant the petition on other grounds.
Petition GRANTED.
2 14-73786