NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 14 2021
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
XIUMEI LIU, No. 19-73159
Petitioner, Agency No. A205-735-766
v.
MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted July 9, 2021**
Honolulu, Hawaii
Before: NGUYEN, OWENS, and FRIEDLAND, Circuit Judges.
Xiumei Liu, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of the Board
of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of her appeal from the Immigration
Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying her applications for asylum and withholding of
removal. Liu contends that Chinese officials forced her to have an abortion and
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
that she fears persecution based on China’s family planning policies. The IJ found
that Liu was not credible, and the BIA upheld that adverse credibility
determination. We review adverse credibility determinations for substantial
evidence, which means they are conclusive unless any reasonable adjudicator
would be compelled to conclude to the contrary. Qiu v. Barr, 944 F.3d 837, 842
(9th Cir. 2019). As the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recount them
here. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252, and we deny the petition.
To uphold the adverse credibility determination, the BIA relied on two
misrepresentations by Liu: (1) Liu submitted false work documents in support of
her United States visa application; and (2) Liu misrepresented that she lived in
Honolulu in her motion to change venue for her removal proceedings.
First, Liu explicitly admitted that she used false work documents to obtain
her visa. Contrary to Liu’s contention, substantial evidence supports that she
submitted the false documents prior to her alleged forced abortion. See Singh v.
Holder, 638 F.3d 1264, 1272 (9th Cir. 2011) (explaining that “lies and fraudulent
documents when they are [not] necessary for the immediate escape from
persecution do support an adverse [credibility] inference”). Moreover, Liu was
given an opportunity to explain why she submitted the false documents, and in
response merely confirmed that she did so to obtain a tourist visa. See Ren v.
Holder, 648 F.3d 1079, 1092 n.14 (9th Cir. 2011).
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Second, Liu filed a motion to change venue from Los Angeles to Honolulu
which stated that she had moved to Honolulu, but Liu testified that she did not start
residing in Honolulu until over a year later. The record does not compel the
conclusion that the BIA erred by rejecting Liu’s explanation—that she planned to
move to Honolulu after she finished massage school in Los Angeles—to justify
why she misrepresented to the immigration court where she was currently living.
The BIA also did not err in determining that Liu’s misrepresentation about her
residence was relevant to her credibility. See Jin v. Holder, 748 F.3d 959, 966 (9th
Cir. 2014) (holding that the petitioner’s misrepresentations of his residence to
change venue were relevant to his credibility because they showed “dishonesty
with the immigration court” and were “more than typographical errors or utterly
trivial inconsistencies”); Shrestha v. Holder, 590 F.3d 1034, 1046-47 (9th Cir.
2010) (explaining that after the REAL ID Act, the basis for an adverse credibility
determination “no longer need[s] to go to the heart of the petitioner’s claim”).
Finally, substantial evidence supports the BIA’s determination that Liu’s
documents were insufficient to rehabilitate her testimony. See Mukulumbutu v.
Barr, 977 F.3d 924, 927 (9th Cir. 2020).
In sum, substantial evidence supports the adverse credibility determination.
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.
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