Jianping Wang v. Lynch, 14-4029

• Decision Date: 27 May 2016
• Docket Number: No. 14-4029,14-4029
• Citation: 824 F.3d 587
• Parties: Jianping Wang, Petitioner, v. Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

824 F.3d 587

Jianping Wang, Petitioner

v.Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General, Respondent.

No. 14-4029

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Decided and Filed: May 27, 2016

ON BRIEF: Kathryn M. McKinney, United State Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. Jian Ping Wang, San Gabriel, California, pro se.

Before: SUHRHEINRICH, DAUGHTREY, and ROGERS, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

An applicant for a government benefit such as asylum may understandably pattern the facts of his application on those asserted by other applicants in previously successful applications. The tendency is doubtless stronger when the applicant is from a foreign culture where caution may be the watchword in giving personal information to the government, and especially where the applicant is not really sure what information our government is looking for. Recognizing the strength of such temptation, an immigration judge may reasonably question the truthfulness of an asylum applicant whose story of persecution is unbelievably similar to those of previously successful applicants. An immigration judge may properly take such remarkably similar facts as some evidence that an applicant is not telling the truth, at least where the applicant has been given a chance to explain the suspicious similarities. That is what happened in this case. On review of the immigration judge's denial of asylum based in large part on unlikely similarities with previous applications, the Board of Immigration Appeals properly upheld the denial of the asylum petition in this case.

Jianping Wang entered the United States in June 2006 as a nonimmigrant with authorization to remain until September 7, 2006. In November 2006, Wang appeared before an IJ, and after conceding removability, filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued among other things that Wang's asylum application was strikingly similar to several others. The IJ nonetheless determined that Wang's testimony was credible, and issued an oral decision granting Wang's application for asylum based upon his practice of Christianity. The IJ, stating that the similarities might have arisen from the applications' having been prepared by the same person, declined to consider the other applications. On appeal, the BIA reasoned that the IJ's credibility analysis was insufficient and failed to adequately address the DHS's argument regarding the similarities between Wang's application and the others. According to the BIA, the IJ also failed to adequately address the evidence in the record. The BIA remanded the case to the IJ for fuller consideration of the record and the DHS's argument.

The previous IJ having in the meantime been transferred, a new IJ was assigned the case on remand. The IJ pointed out that Wang's story contained many implausible elements, such as Wang's statement that he was placed under police surveillance but still managed to obtain a visa, which requires an interview. The IJ also noted the unlikelihood of Wang's being able to board a plane and leave China even though he was under governmental watch. Most damaging to Wang's credibility, however, were “two asylum applications from completely unrelated cases that share a striking number of very specific details.”

The IJ noted as an initial matter that “all three statements attached to the asylum applications appear to use the same formatting including the same font type, font size, typeface, margins, spacing, headings and so forth.” The IJ then turned to the substantive similarities:

[A]ll three narratives are very similar substantively. Two of the three respondents, including Respondent, were introduced to Christianity by a nurse who was caring for a friend or family member in a government run hospital. In these stories, the nurse prayed for and preached to the patients and respondents, who eventually felt that this faith and prayer was instrumental in the patients' recovery. The nurses then invited the respondents to worship at family churches and gave them bibles. In the third application, the respondent was introduced to Christianity by a friend who maintained good spirits despite a great deal of adversity in his life. This friend invited the respondent to a family church service.

In all three applications, the respondents attended family church services and were eventually baptized. In all three accounts, the respondents were at church services at a member's home at either 10 am or 10:30 am when three police officers arrived. In two of the accounts, the police officers ordered the worshippers to stand in the kitchen. In all of the stories, the police confiscated the bibles and other church materials. The worshippers were then loaded into a police vehicle and then taken to the local police station.

At the police station, all three respondents had very similar experiences. The respondents were all interrogated by the police. The police asked the respondents what their “anti-government purposes” were, and where the other family churches were located. The respondents answered that they had no “anti-government purposes” and did not know where the other churches were. The respondents were then either slapped or punched and then thrown on the ground, beaten with batons, and kicked in the stomach. All three interrogations allegedly lasted forty minutes. The respondents were then detained in small, dirty cells roughly “fifteen square meters” with about half a dozen other inmates at detention centers. In all three accounts, the respondents were either fed very little or their food was stolen by the other inmates.

All of the respondents were released from detention after their wives paid a bond of “RMB 8,000” so they could seek medical attention. All three respondents were placed on police surveillance and ordered to report to the police station once a week. The respondents were all hospitalized for 5–7 days, and terminated from their respective jobs. Due to the urging of friends and family members, the respondents made plans to come to the U.S. After their arrivals, all three were informed by their families that the police had come to their homes to search for them and that the police would punish the respondents severely if they were found.

These substantive similarities, according to the IJ, were “not as striking as the frequent occurrence of similar or identical language and phrasing across the applications”:

All three applications have the same introductory paragraph stating “Because of attending Christian family church activities, I was persecuted by the Chinese government. I was also arrested, detained, interrogated and beaten up by police, and was terminated from my public work ... I had no choice but to escape from China. I hereby apply to the US Government for asylum.” The three respondents also state in their applications, “I often joined their church activities” and that “I believe in God more and more.”

In all three cases, the police referred to the worshippers as members of a “devil cult.” The police, during the interrogations, also asked what the respondents' “reactionary purpose” was. They were all placed in “dirty and stinky” cells. Upon release from the hospital, all three respondents “reported to the police station every week” and were terminated from their “public work” and were ordered to “write repenting letter as soon as possible (sic).”

Finally, Respondent's statement says the police came to his wife's house and “they claimed that I was a devil cult member, if they caught me and would punish me severely. I would be persecuted severely if I go back to China now.” Another statement is almost identical stating the police came to his house after he left, and “they claimed that I was a devil cult member, did not repent; they would punish me severely if they caught me. I will be persecuted severely if I go back to China now.” All three respondents close their statements by saying, “Therefore, I apply to the US government for asylum. Please grant me (sic).”

The IJ proceeded to explain why Wang's explanations of these similarities were inadequate and why these similarities supported the IJ's finding of Wang's lack of credibility:

This analysis is by no means an exhaustive enumeration of every similarity found across these three separate and unrelated asylum applications by applicants represented by different attorneys, and allegedly speaking through different translators.... There are many other similarities among the statements. The potential innocent explanations of these similarities discussed above do not square with the evidence.... The first two possibilities, that the different applicants inserted truthful information into standardized templates, and the similarities are the result of the same translator using their own rigid style, do not apply here, as all three applications were apparently prepared by different translators. Further, Respondent stated his translator was a friend of his from his Church in Los Angeles. The next possibility, that Respondent's application is the true account and the others are plagiarized, is not likely as Respondent stated that he did not tell his story to or share his statement with anyone other than Ms. Liu who translated the

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