Sembiring

I. Background

Rehsempata Sembiring entered the United States from Indonesia on February 28, 2002, under a non-immigrant B-1 visitor visa. On May 3, 2003, Sembiring filed an asylum application, contending that she feared persecution in Indone- sia because of her Christian religion. Sembiring contended, among other things, that friends and family members had been harmed because of their Christian faith-based practices, and that she had been “threatened with having her house burned down” by government officials because of her own Christian practices. In her asylum application, Sembiring acknowledged that she had overstayed her visa. She stated that she did not apply for asylum earlier because she “did not know about asylum before.” Sembiring listed her current address on her asylum application.

Sembiring had not been served with a notice to appear when she applied for asylum. After she submitted her applica- tion, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”), now the Department of Homeland Security, initiated removal proceedings against her. On July 3, 2003, Sembiring was per- sonally served with a written notice to appear for removal proceedings. The notice instructed…