Feng Ma v. Ashcroft

MEMORANDUM **

Feng Ma, a Chinese native and citizen, petitions for review of the final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) sustaining the government’s appeal and vacating the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order granting withholding of removal under Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review factual findings for substantial evidence and the BIA’s interpretation of purely legal questions de novo. Zheng v. Ashcroft, 332 F.3d 1186, 1193-94 (9th Cir.2003). We grant the petition and remand.

Ma and approximately forty other Chinese nationals were brought by boat to Guam by alien smugglers, popularly known as “snakeheads.” Ma and three other witnesses testified against the smugglers in a criminal trial in Guam, which resulted in the conviction of three alien smugglers. Ma believes that if he is returned to China, the smugglers will injure or kill him and the Chinese government will not protect him.

Ma presented evidence that his family in China had been threatened and beaten up by “underlings” connected with the smugglers and that another witness at the criminal trial in Guam was crippled by the…