Xin He v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Xin Yu He petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal of the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his claim for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We grant the petition for review and remand the case to the BIA to reassess He’s jurisdictional argument under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (“TVPRA”).

1. He argues that the TVPRA divests the IJ of jurisdiction over his asylum application. The TVPRA gives “unaccompanied alien children” the right to have their asylum applications reviewed in the first instance by a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) asylum officer. 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (b)(3)(C). The parties agree that if He was under eighteen years old when he filed his asylum application on January 17, 2007, then he qualifies as an unaccompanied alien child for purposes of the TVPRA. If, as He claims in his asylum application and on appeal, he was born on August 27, 1989, then he qualifies. But if, as the IJ found, He was born on August 27, 1987, then he does not qualify. Thus, our review turns on the BIA’s…