Zi Lin Chen v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General

Zi Lin Chen petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) decision to deny her application for asylum and withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 (b)(3)(A), and Article 3 of the United Nations’ Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“Convention Against Torture”), opened for signature Feb. 4, 1985, S. Treaty Doc. No. 100-20, at 20 (1988), 23 I.L.M. 1027, 1028 (1984). We have jurisdiction over this timely filed petition under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a) and 8 C.F.R § 208.18(e). We grant the petition for review and hold that the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) adverse credibility findings were not supported by substantial evidence. We remand for further proceedings to determine whether Mrs. Chen has established eligibility for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture in light of her credible testimony.

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Mrs. Chen entered this country from China on June 8, 2001, when she was intercepted and detained at San Francisco International Airport. She is a thirty-three-year-old citizen of the People’s Republic of China. Mrs. Chen was born in Ho Yi Village, Nian Chon County in Fujian…