Lin

BACKGROUND

Lin lived in the Fujian province of China, in the same house as his parents, sister, two brothers, sister-in-law, and two nieces. Because Lin’s brother already had two daughters LIN v. GONZALES 149 and his wife was pregnant with their third child, birth control officials notified Lin’s brother that he was required to be ster- ilized. Lin’s brother, unwilling to be sterilized, “ran away” several days before the scheduled vasectomy procedure. In response, birth control officials went to Lin’s house in March 1998 to seize and destroy household furnishings. When Lin attempted to stop the birth control officials from taking family property, they beat him up and called security to arrest him. In his declaration, Lin asserted: “I detest [the birth control officials’] action and tried to stop them, but they beat me up. I had no other alternative and I couldn’t stand [it] any more, so I resisted them.” After the incident, Lin immediately went into hiding to avoid arrest. In May 1998, Lin fled to Guam.

On July 17, 2001, Lin received a Notice to Appear charging him with removal pursuant to § 212(a)(6)(A)(I) of the Immi- gration and Nationality Act. 8 U.S.C.…