Zhou

I. Background

Zhou entered the United States on May 30, 2001, as a non- immigrant visitor for business, with authorization to remain until June 29, 2001. Having never left the United States, Zhou applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protec- tion on September 12, 2001. On January 2, 2002, the INS brought removal proceedings against her.

In her removal hearing before the IJ, Zhou testified that prior to entering the U.S. she held a supervisory position at a private software company in China. This position required her to make repeated trips to Singapore during 2000 and 2001. Shortly after returning from one such trip in May, 2000, Zhou attended a party at which she spoke with an acquaintance, Yung Su, about the Falun Gong.

Zhou and Su had attended the same college from 1991 to 1994, but were not close friends. Su told Zhou that she was an active Falun Gong practitioner and organizer. Knowing that Zhou had recently returned from Singapore, and curious about how the foreign press portrayed the Falun Gong and the Chinese government’s actions against it, Su asked Zhou to bring her newspaper articles about the Falun Gong from Sin- gapore.

In May of 2001, Zhou…