Shen Lin v. Holder

11-1370-ag Lin v. Holder BIA A076 515 153 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 Daniel Patrick Moynihan 3 United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of 4 New York, on the 4th day of June, two thousand twelve. 5 6 PRESENT: 7 RALPH K. WINTER, 8 JOSEPH M. McLAUGHLIN, 9 REENA RAGGI, 10 Circuit Judges. 11 _______________________________________ 12 13 SHING LIN,AKA SHEN LIN, 14 Petitioner, 15 16 v. 11-1370-ag 17 NAC 18 ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., UNITED STATES 19 ATTORNEY GENERAL, 20 Respondent. 21 _______________________________________ 22 23 FOR PETITIONER: Theodore N. Cox, New York, New York. 24 25 FOR RESPONDENT: Tony West, Assistant Attorney 26 General; David Bernal, Assistant 27 Director; Jesse M. Bless, Trial 28 Attorney, Office of Immigration 29 Litigation, Civil Division, United 30 States Department of Justice, 31 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 Shing Lin, a native and citizen of China, seeks review 6 of a March 22, 2011, order of the BIA denying his motion to 7 reopen his removal proceedings. In re Shing Lin, No. A076 8 515 153 (B.I.A. Mar. 22, 2011). We assume the parties’ 9 familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history 10 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). Here, the BIA did not abuse its discretion 14 by denying Lin’s 2010 motion to reopen as untimely, as he 15 filed it nearly eight years after his final order of 16 removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(i). 17 Although the time limits on motions to reopen may be 18 excused when the movant demonstrates changed country 19 conditions, id. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii), as the BIA concluded, 20 only Lin’s personal circumstances had changed, as his claim 21 was based on the fact that he joined the Chinese Democratic 22 Party in 2008 while in the United States, see Wei Guang Wang 23 v. BIA, 437 F.3d 270, 274 (2d Cir. 2006). Moreover, the BIA 2 1 reasonably declined to give weight to Lin’s evidence. See 2 Jian Hui Shao v. BIA, 465 F.3d 497, 501 (2d Cir. 2006) 3 (holding that this Court generally defers to the agency 4 regarding the weight of evidence). 5 The BIA also reasonably determined that Lin failed to 6 demonstrate any change in China, because the evidence showed 7 that current conditions were similar to those at the time of 8 his original hearing. See In re S-Y-G-, 24 I. & N. Dec. 9 247, 253 (BIA 2007) (“In determining whether evidence 10 accompanying a motion to reopen demonstrates a material 11 change in country conditions that would justify reopening, 12 we compare the evidence of country conditions submitted with 13 the motion to those that existed at the time of the merits 14 hearing below.”). 15 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is 16 DENIED. As we have completed our review, any stay of 17 removal that the Court previously granted in this petition 18 is VACATED, and any pending motion for a stay of removal in 19 this petition is DISMISSED as moot. Any pending request for 20 oral argument in this petition is DENIED in accordance with 21 Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second 22 Circuit Local Rule 34.1(b). 23 FOR THE COURT: 24 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 25 26 3