Shengwan Quan v. Ashcroft

MEMORANDUM **

Shengwan Quan, a native and citizen of People’s Republic of China, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal.

A petitioner seeking asylum must show that he is unwilling to return to his country of origin because of past persecution or a well-founded subjectively and objectively reasonable fear of future persecution on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion. See Kebede v. Ashcroft, 366 F.3d 808, 811 (9th Cir.2004); Melkonian v. Ashcroft, 320 F.3d 1061, 1064-65 (9th Cir.2003); Fisher v. INS, 79 F.3d 955, 960 (9th Cir.1996) (en banc). The withholding standard is more stringent. See Ghaly v. INS, 58 F.3d 1425, 1428-29 (9th Cir.1995).

The BIA’s determination that an alien is not eligible for asylum must be upheld if “ ‘supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole.’ ” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 , 112 S.Ct. 812, 815 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (citation omitted). “It can be reversed only if the evidence presented ... was such that a reasonable factfinder would have to…