Yue Hua Chen v. Ashcroft

*46 MEMORANDUM *

Yue Hua Chen, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) affirmance of an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we grant the petition for review.

Where, as here, the BIA conducts a de novo review of the IJ’s decision, our review is limited to the BIA’s decision. Singh v. Ashcroft, 301 F.3d 1109, 1111 (9th Cir.2002). Here, the BIA conducted a de novo review, citing to portions of the record not referred to by the IJ, providing reasons to find Chen not credible that were not cited by the IJ, explicitly affirming the IJ’s decision with respect to voluntary departure, neglecting to mention other aspects of the IJ’s decision, and concluding with the following statement, “Therefore, because we are in agreement with the decision of the Immigration Judge, and because we are not persuaded by any of the respondent’s arguments on appeal, we affirm that decision based upon and for the reasons indicated therein.” Use of the word “therefore” indicates that affirmance relies on the reasons articulated in the de novo review…