Shu Hong Ju v. Ashcroft

MEMORANDUM **

Shu Hong Ju, a native and citizen of China, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision summarily affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of the application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence an adverse credibility determination, Chebchoub v. INS, 257 F.3d 1038, 1042 (9th Cir.2001), and we grant the petition.

Substantial evidence does not support the IJ’s adverse credibility finding. The basis of Ju’s claim is that government authorities discovered that she was pregnant during a medical exam and forced her to undergo an abortion to comply with China’s one-child policy. The IJ found that Ju was not credible because she failed to include in the asylum application that she received a medical exam days after the abortion. We conclude that, because the *939 purpose of this exam was to get approval to leave China, it was a minor omission, and minor omissions from an application do not support an adverse credibility determination. See Bandari v. INS, 227 F.3d 1160, 1166-67 (9th Cir.2000).

The IJ also found that Ju’s application omitted information…