Yanzhen Liu v. Holder , 582 F. App'x 41 ( 2014 )


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  •          12-4763
    Chen v. Holder
    BIA
    Segal, IJ
    A029 822 176
    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 Thurgood Marshall United
    3       States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York,
    4       on the 3rd day of November, two thousand fourteen.
    5
    6       PRESENT:
    7                JON O. NEWMAN,
    8                DENNIS JACOBS,
    9                PIERRE N. LEVAL,
    10                     Circuit Judges.
    11       _____________________________________
    12
    13       MING JIE CHEN,
    14                Petitioner,
    15
    16                        v.                                    12-4763
    17                                                              NAC
    18
    19       ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., UNITED STATES
    20       ATTORNEY GENERAL,
    21                Respondent.
    22       _____________________________________
    23
    24       FOR PETITIONER:                Gary J. Yerman, New York, New York.
    25
    26       FOR RESPONDENT:                Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney
    27                                      General; Ada E. Bosque, Senior
    08152014-B3-2
    1                             Litigation Counsel; Puneet Cheema,
    2                             Trial Attorney, Office of
    3                             Immigration Litigation, United
    4                             States Department of Justice,
    5                             Washington, D.C.
    6
    7           UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a
    8   Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby
    9   ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review
    10   is DENIED in part and in part DISMISSED.
    11           Ming Jie Chen, a native and citizen of China, seeks
    12   review of a November 8, 2012, decision of the BIA affirming
    13   the December 29, 2010, decision of Immigration Judge (“IJ”)
    14   Alice Segal, denying his applications for asylum,
    15   withholding of removal, relief under the Convention Against
    16   Torture (“CAT”), and cancellation of removal.     In re Ming
    17   Jie Chen, No. A029 822 176 (B.I.A. Nov. 8, 2012), aff’g No.
    18   A029 822 176 (Immig. Ct. N.Y. City Dec. 29, 2010).       We
    19   assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts
    20   and procedural history of this case.
    21           Under the circumstances of this case, we have reviewed
    22   the IJ’s decision as supplemented by the BIA.     See Yan Chen
    23   v. Gonzales, 
    417 F.3d 268
    , 271 (2d Cir. 2005).     The
    24   applicable standards of review are well established.          See
    25
    08152014-B3-2                   2
    1   8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B); Yanqin Weng v. Holder, 
    562 F.3d 2
      510, 513 (2d Cir. 2009).
    3   Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and CAT Relief
    4           Chen applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and
    5   CAT relief based, in part, on his claim that he fears
    6   persecution because he has had two children in violation of
    7   China’s population control program.     For largely the same
    8   reasons as this Court set forth in Jian Hui Shao v. Mukasey,
    9   
    546 F.3d 138
    (2d Cir. 2008), we find no error in the
    10   agency’s determination that Chen failed to demonstrate his
    11   eligibility for relief.     See 
    id. at 158-72.
      The testimony
    12   at Chen’s hearing indicated that the elder of his two U.S.
    13   citizen daughters, who was eighteen years old at the time of
    14   his 2010 hearing, would not necessarily accompany him if he
    15   were removed to China, and that the country conditions
    16   evidence indicates that Chinese nationals with more than one
    17   child do not violate the family planning policy if all but
    18   one of their children reside overseas.     See 
    id. at 143,
    170.
    19           We further find no error in the agency’s determination
    20   that Chen failed to demonstrate his eligibility for CAT
    21   relief based on his illegal departure from China.     See Mu
    22   Xiang Lin v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 
    432 F.3d 156
    , 159-60 (2d
    08152014-B3-2                   3
    1   Cir. 2005) (finding that a petitioner is not “entitled to
    2   CAT protection based solely on the fact that she is part of
    3   the large class of persons who have illegally departed
    4   China.”).
    5   Cancellation of Removal
    6           We lack jurisdiction to review the agency’s
    7   “determination of whether exceptional and extremely unusual
    8   hardship is present for the purposes of cancellation of
    9   removal . . ., except in those rare cases where the BIA
    10   decision on whether this kind of hardship exists is made
    11   without rational justification or based on an erroneous
    12   legal standard, or rests on fact-finding which is flawed by
    13   an error of law.”     Mendez v. Holder, 
    566 F.3d 316
    , 322 (2d
    14   Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
    15   However, we retain jurisdiction to review constitutional
    16   claims and “questions of law.”      8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D).
    17   We lack jurisdiction to review any legal argument that “does
    18   not even reach the level of being colorable.”      Barco-
    19   Sandoval v. Gonzales, 
    516 F.3d 35
    , 40 (2d Cir. 2008).
    20           Chen does not raise a colorable question of law.
    21   Contrary to his contention, the agency explicitly considered
    22   Chen’s alleged hardship factors cumulatively.      See In re
    08152014-B3-2                   4
    1   Monreal-Aguinaga, 23 I. & N. Dec. 56, 64-65 (BIA 2001).             In
    2   addition, because the record contains evidence to support
    3   the agency’s determination that Chen’s eldest U.S. citizen
    4   daughter would remain in the United States if he were
    5   removed, his challenge to that finding merely quarrels with
    6   the correctness of the IJ’s factual findings.          See Xiao Ji
    7   Chen v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 
    471 F.3d 315
    , 329 (2d Cir.
    8   2006).          Accordingly, his petition for review is dismissed
    9   for lack of jurisdiction to the extent that it challenges
    10   the agency’s denial of cancellation of removal.          See Mendez,
    
    11 566 F.3d at 322
    ; see also 
    Barco-Sandoval, 516 F.3d at 40
    .
    12           For the foregoing reasons, this petition for review is
    13   DENIED in part and in part DISMISSED.          As we have completed
    14   our review, any stay of removal that the Court previously
    15   granted in this petitions is VACATED, and any pending motion
    16   for a stay of removal in this petition is DISMISSED as moot.
    17   Any pending request for oral argument in this petition is
    18   DENIED in accordance with Federal Rule of Appellate
    19   Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second Circuit Local Rule 34.1(b).
    20                                      FOR THE COURT:
    21                                      Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
    22
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