Bai v. Lynch , 658 F. App'x 10 ( 2016 )


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  •     14-4627
    Bai v. Lynch
    BIA
    Christensen, IJ
    A200 179 025
    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.
    At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for
    the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States
    Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the
    15th day of August, two thousand sixteen.
    PRESENT:
    GUIDO CALABRESI,
    REENA RAGGI,
    CHRISTOPHER F. DRONEY,
    Circuit Judges.
    _____________________________________
    XUEJIN BAI,
    Petitioner,
    v.                                                14-4627
    NAC
    LORETTA E. LYNCH, UNITED STATES
    ATTORNEY GENERAL,
    Respondent.
    _____________________________________
    FOR PETITIONER:                 Dehai Zhang, Esq., Flushing, New York.
    FOR RESPONDENT:                  Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal Deputy
    Assistant Attorney General; John S.
    Hogan, Senior Litigation Counsel;
    Nicole N. Murley, Trial Attorney,
    Office of Immigration Litigation,
    United States Department of Justice,
    Washington, D.C.
    UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a
    Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby
    ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review is
    DENIED.
    Petitioner Xuejin Bai, a native and citizen of the People’s
    Republic of China, seeks review of a November 21, 2014 decision
    of the BIA affirming a July 18, 2013 decision of an Immigration
    Judge (“IJ”) denying Bai’s application for asylum, withholding
    of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture
    (“CAT”).    See In re Xuejin Bai, No. A200 179 025 (B.I.A. Nov.
    21, 2014), aff’g No. A200 179 025 (Immig. Ct. N.Y.C. July 18,
    2013).    Under the circumstances of this case, we review both
    the IJ and the BIA opinion “for the sake of completeness,”
    Wangchuck v. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 
    448 F.3d 524
    , 528 (2d Cir.
    2006), applying well-established standards of review, see 8
    U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B); Yanqin Weng v. Holder, 
    562 F.3d 510
    ,
    513 (2d Cir. 2009).      In doing so, we assume the parties’
    familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history
    in this case.
    For asylum applications such as Bai’s, governed by the REAL
    ID Act of 2005, the agency may, considering “the totality of
    the circumstances,” base an adverse credibility determination
    on an asylum applicant’s “demeanor, candor, or responsiveness,”
    2
    the plausibility of her account, and inconsistencies in her
    statements, “without regard to whether” those inconsistencies
    go “to the heart of the applicant’s claim.”           8 U.S.C. §
    1158(b)(1)(B)(iii); see Xiu Xia Lin v. Mukasey, 
    534 F.3d 162
    ,
    165 (2d Cir. 2008).    Under the “substantial evidence” standard
    of review, “[w]e defer to an IJ’s credibility determination
    unless, from the totality of the circumstances, it is plain that
    no   reasonable   fact-finder   could   make   such   an   adverse
    credibility ruling.”     Xiu Xia 
    Lin, 534 F.3d at 167
    .
    The agency here reasonably relied on inconsistencies,
    omissions, and Bai’s demeanor in finding her not credible.
    First, the record supports the agency’s conclusion that Bai’s
    testimony regarding the number of passports she had obtained
    was inconsistent.     Although Bai initially testified that she
    had only had one passport in her life — the one that she used
    to travel to the United States — the record indicates that she
    had at least three.    She conceded during her testimony that,
    in 2009, she obtained a passport bearing a false name and her
    picture, which she used to travel successfully to Japan after
    she was forced to have an abortion.     Further, the passport she
    used to travel to the United States stated that it was a
    replacement, thus indicating that Bai previously had yet
    another passport.     Insofar as Bai attempts to minimize her
    3
    testimony regarding the fraudulent passport she used to travel
    to Japan, she did not raise that argument before the BIA and,
    therefore, we decline to consider it here.          See Lin Zhong v.
    U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 
    480 F.3d 104
    , 122 (2d Cir. 2007)
    (explaining that when “applicant for asylum or withholding of
    removal has failed to exhaust an issue before the BIA, and that
    issue is, therefore, not addressed in a reasoned BIA decision,”
    we are, “by virtue of the ‘final order’ requirement of
    § 1252(d)(1), usually unable to review the argument”).
    Second, the record also supports the agency’s conclusion
    that Bai omitted from her asylum application any mention of the
    six months she lived and worked in Japan in 2009.      Bai testified
    that in June 2009, approximately two months after she was forced
    to have an abortion, she traveled to Japan and lived and worked
    there for six months before being deported to China.        Despite
    completing an asylum application in 2011 that required her to
    list her jobs and residences for the past five years and
    providing with her application a written statement detailing
    what happened after her forced abortion, Bai failed to include
    in either document the fact that she lived and worked in Japan
    from approximately June 2009 to December 2009.           The IJ was
    permitted   to   rely   on   this   omission   in   assessing   Bai’s
    credibility, see Xiu Xia 
    Lin, 534 F.3d at 166
    n.3 (explaining
    4
    that,   for     purposes    of     assessing           credibility,    “[a]n
    inconsistency    and   an   omission         are   .    .    .   functionally
    equivalent”), particularly given that Bai’s only explanation
    for this omission was that she felt “that if [she] include[d]
    it, it’s not good” because she also went to Japan to apply for
    asylum, Certified Administrative Record (“CAR”) 83; see Majidi
    v. Gonzales, 
    430 F.3d 77
    , 80 (2d Cir. 2005) (stating that
    petitioner “must do more than offer a plausible explanation for
    [her] inconsistent statements to secure relief; [s]he must
    demonstrate that a reasonable fact-finder would be compelled
    to credit [her] testimony”).
    In urging otherwise, Bai relies on a pre-REAL ID Act case
    to argue that her testimony regarding her time in Japan could
    not form the basis for the agency’s credibility determination
    because it had no bearing on her claim that she suffered
    persecution in China.       See Secaida-Rosales v. INS, 
    331 F.3d 297
    , 308 (2d Cir. 2003) (stating that adverse credibility
    determination cannot rest on inconsistencies that “do not
    concern the basis for the claim of asylum or withholding, but
    rather matters collateral or ancillary to the claim”).                   The
    argument   fails   because       the       REAL   ID   Act   governs   Bai’s
    application, and permits an IJ to “rely on any inconsistency
    or omission in making an adverse credibility determination as
    5
    long as the ‘totality of the circumstances’ establishes that
    an asylum applicant is not credible.”        Xiu Xia 
    Lin, 534 F.3d at 167
      (emphasis    in   original)   (quoting       8   U.S.C.
    § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii)) (concluding that REAL ID Act abrogated
    circuit precedent, including Secaida-Rosales, which held that
    IJ     may   not   base   adverse   credibility   determination   on
    inconsistencies that are collateral to applicant’s claim).
    Third, the agency reasonably concluded that Bai testified
    inconsistently about her divorce.          Although Bai initially
    testified that she was in China when she divorced her husband,
    she subsequently testified that the divorce took place in
    December 2009, when she was in Japan.        When asked to explain
    this inconsistency, Bai stated that she had been asked “too many
    questions,” and ”got confused.”        CAR 84.    The agency was not
    compelled to credit this explanation.       See 
    Majidi, 430 F.3d at 80
    .1
    Fourth, the IJ also expressed doubts about Bai’s demeanor
    — a finding that we accord deference given that an IJ is in the
    1
    Bai further argues in her brief to this court that she was
    confused as to whether the government was asking about the
    beginning or end of the divorce process. She did not, however,
    provide that explanation when asked about the inconsistency
    before the IJ, see Kulhawik v. Holder, 
    571 F.3d 296
    , 298 (2d
    Cir. 2009) (“An attorney’s unsworn statements in a brief are
    not evidence.”), and, even if she had provided such an
    explanation at that time, the agency would not have been
    compelled to credit it, see 
    Majidi, 430 F.3d at 80
    .
    6
    best   position    to    observe   an   applicant’s    demeanor   while
    testifying.   See Zhou Yun Zhang v. U.S. INS, 
    386 F.3d 66
    , 73-74
    (2d Cir. 2004), overruled on other grounds by Shi Liang Lin v.
    U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 
    494 F.3d 296
    (2d Cir. 2007).         The IJ here
    observed that Bai was “evasive” when asked about the number of
    passports she has had in her life.         CAR 48.     This finding is
    strengthened by Bai’s inconsistent responses to that question.
    See Li Hua Lin v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 
    453 F.3d 99
    , 109 (2d
    Cir. 2006) (“We can be still more confident in our review of
    observations about an applicant’s demeanor where, as here, they
    are    supported    by     specific     examples      of   inconsistent
    testimony.”).
    Finally, the agency reasonably found that Bai failed to
    rehabilitate her testimony with reliable documents.            See Biao
    Yang v. Gonzales, 
    496 F.3d 268
    , 273 (2d Cir. 2007) (“An
    applicant’s failure to corroborate his or her testimony may bear
    on credibility, because the absence of corroboration in general
    makes an applicant unable to rehabilitate testimony that has
    already been called into question.”).         In so concluding, the
    IJ declined to afford significant evidentiary weight to (1) a
    letter from Bai’s mother because she was unavailable for
    cross-examination; and (2) an unauthenticated hospital record
    that did not establish that Bai’s 2009 abortion was involuntary,
    7
    see Tu Lin v. Gonzales, 
    446 F.3d 395
    , 400 (2d Cir. 2006) (noting
    that the State Department China Profile of Asylum Cases states
    “so-called ‘abortion certificates’ are most likely doctors’
    excuse-letters for workers who undergo abortion voluntarily”).
    We defer to the agency’s determination of the weight to be
    afforded to these documents.   See Y.C. v. Holder, 
    741 F.3d 324
    ,
    332 (2d Cir. 2013) (deferring to agency’s determination to give
    letter “very little evidentiary weight” where letter was
    unsworn and submitted by an interested witness).
    Because   substantial   evidence   supports   the   agency’s
    findings that Bai provided inconsistent testimony, omitted
    facts from her asylum application, and was evasive during her
    testimony, we identify no basis to disturb the agency’s adverse
    credibility determination, see 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii);
    Xiu Xia 
    Lin, 534 F.3d at 167
    , which is dispositive of Bai’s
    claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief, see
    Paul v. Gonzales, 
    444 F.3d 148
    , 156–57 (2d Cir. 2006).2
    For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is
    DENIED.   As we have completed our review, any stay of removal
    that the Court previously granted in this petition is VACATED,
    2
    Because the IJ’s credibility determination was an independent
    basis on which to deny Bai’s requested relief, we need not
    consider whether the agency erred in concluding that Bai failed
    to establish her identity. See Cao He Lin v. U.S. Dep’t of
    Justice, 
    428 F.3d 391
    , 401 (2d Cir. 2005).
    8
    and any pending motion for a stay of removal in this petition
    is DISMISSED as moot.   Any pending request for oral argument
    in this petition is DENIED in accordance with Federal Rule of
    Appellate Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second Circuit Local Rule
    34.1(b).
    FOR THE COURT:
    Catherine O=Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
    9