Long Yang v. Gonzales

MEMORANDUM **

Long Yang, a native and citizen of the People’s Republic of China, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order summarily affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence, INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992), and we grant in part and deny in part the petition for review.

Yang claims he fears persecution by the Chinese authorities based on his participation in the Falun Gong. Yang credibly testified that the Chinese government went to his house with a warrant on several occasions to arrest him for practicing Falun Gong and threatened his parents with arrest if they did not disclose his location, a threat that sent his parents into hiding. The State Department country report in the record indicated that mere belief in the discipline was sufficient grounds for practitioners to receive punishments ranging from loss of employment to imprisonment and that practitioners who refused to recant their…