Filed: Jan. 23, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: 15-545 Zou v. Whitaker BIA A073 570 562 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 “SUMMA
Summary: 15-545 Zou v. Whitaker BIA A073 570 562 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 “SUMMAR..
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15-545
Zou v. Whitaker
BIA
A073 570 562
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.
1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals
2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall
3 United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of
4 New York, on the 23rd day of January, two thousand nineteen.
5
6 PRESENT:
7 JON O. NEWMAN,
8 DENNIS JACOBS,
9 PIERRE N. LEVAL,
10 Circuit Judges.
11 _____________________________________
12
13 ZONG ZENG ZOU,
14 Petitioner,
15
16 v. 15-545
17 NAC
18
19 MATTHEW G. WHITAKER, ACTING
20 UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL,
21 Respondent.
22 _____________________________________
23
24 FOR PETITIONER: Gang Zhou, New York, NY.
25
26 FOR RESPONDENT: Benjamin C. Mizer, Principal
27 Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
28 Leslie McKay, Assistant Director;
1
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1 Margot L. Carter, Trial Attorney,
2 Office of Immigration Litigation,
3 United States Department of
4 Justice, Washington, DC.
5
6 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a
7 Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby
8 ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review
9 is DENIED.
10 Petitioner Zong Zeng Zou, a native and citizen of the
11 People’s Republic of China, seeks review of a January 30,
12 2015, decision of the BIA denying his motion to reopen as
13 untimely and number barred. In re Zong Zeng Zou, No. A073
14 570 562 (B.I.A. Jan. 30, 2015). We assume the parties’
15 familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history
16 in this case. The applicable standards of review are well
17 established. See Jian Hui Shao v. Mukasey, 546 F.3d 138,
18 168-69 (2d Cir. 2008).
19 Zou moved to reopen his deportation proceedings, alleging
20 a fear of persecution in China on account of the births of
21 his U.S. citizen children in violation of China’s population
22 control program and his membership in the China Democracy
23 Party (“CDP”) in the United States. It is undisputed that
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1 Zou’s motion to reopen was untimely and number barred because
2 it was his third motion to reopen filed more than 12 years
3 after his deportation order became final. See 8 U.S.C.
4 § 1229a(c)(7)(A), (C)(i); 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2). These
5 time and numerical limitations do not apply, however, if the
6 motion is to reopen proceedings in order to apply for asylum
7 “based on changed country conditions arising in the country
8 of nationality or the country to which removal has been
9 ordered, if such evidence is material and was not available
10 and would not have been discovered or presented at the
11 previous proceeding.” 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii); see
12 also 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(3)(ii).
13 For largely the same reasons set forth in Jian Hui Shao,
14 we find no error in the agency’s determination that Zou’s new
15 evidence of isolated incidents of persecution failed to
16 demonstrate a material change in conditions related to the
17 enforcement of China’s population control program as needed
18 to excuse the untimely and number barred filing of his motion,
19 much less as to his unsworn, uncorroborated evidence of a
20 single instance of threatened application of China’s policies
21 to children born in the United States. See 546 F.3d at 159-
3
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1 66, 169-73 (noting that country conditions evidence from 1998
2 to 2007 indicated that enforcement of the family planning
3 policy was generally lax in Fujian Province with isolated
4 reports of force being used). Nor did the BIA err in finding
5 no material change in conditions as to the Chinese
6 government’s treatment of CDP members since Zou’s 1999
7 hearing. See In re S-Y-G-, 24 I. & N. Dec. 247, 253 (B.I.A.
8 2007) (“In determining whether evidence accompanying a motion
9 to reopen demonstrates a material change in country
10 conditions that would justify reopening, [the BIA] compare[s]
11 the evidence of country conditions submitted with the motion
12 to those that existed at the time of the merits hearing
13 below.”). The BIA was not compelled to credit an unsworn
14 letter from Zou’s brother stating that Chinese officials had
15 discovered Zou’s CDP activities in the United States. See
16 Y.C. v. Holder, 741 F.3d 324, 334 (2d Cir. 2013) (deferring
17 to agency’s decision regarding the weight to afford evidence
18 that officials were aware of petitioner’s pro-democracy
19 activities in the United States).
20
4
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1 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is
2 DENIED.
3 FOR THE COURT:
4 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe
5 Clerk of Court
5
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