Zhentie Ma v. Gonzales

MEMORANDUM **

Zhentie Ma, a native and citizen of the People’s Republic of China, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order adopting and affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence, see Singh-Kaur v. INS, 183 F.3d 1147, 1149 (9th Cir.1999), and we deny the petition for review.

The IJ provided specific, cogent reasons for disbelieving Ma’s purported fear of persecution based upon his Falun Gong practice. See Singh v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 1139, 1143 (9th Cir.2004). The IJ found Ma’s inability to explain why he attempted to take a Falun Gong petition to Beijing to be both unresponsive and implausible. See Singh v. Ashcroft, 301 F.3d 1109, 1113 (9th Cir.2002) (holding that IJ must cite specific examples in order to deny asylum claim based on unresponsiveness); Singh-Kaur 183 F.3d at 1153 (upholding IJ’s finding of implausibility in ap *632 plicant’s testimony). Moreover, the IJ found Ma’s explanation of the problems he experienced in China before…