Zeng Shui Lin v. Gonzales
Opinion of the Court
SUMMARY ORDER
Zeng Shui Lin petitions for review of December 4, 2002 decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) denying his motion to reconsider their June 19, 2002 decision.
Zeng Shui Lin is a Chinese citizen who entered the United States in 1990, and then claimed asylum and withholding of removal. In support of his claims, he alleged that he was persecuted by the Chinese Government because his wife was forcibly sterilized and they were fined by the Chinese Government.
The BIA denied Lin’s motion for reconsideration of his forced sterilization claim on two independent grounds: (1) Lin’s motion merely reiterated arguments made in his original appeal of the IJ’s decision and (2) the alleged error raised by Lin was harmless. The first ground is an appropriate basis for the denial of reconsideration. See Strato v. Ashcroft, 388 F.3d 651, 655 (8th Cir. 2004); Ahmed v. Ashcroft, 388 F.3d 247, 251 (7th Cir. 2004); Sswajje v. Ashcroft, 350 F.3d 528, 533 (6th Cir. 2003). Because this is adequate to support the BIA’s decision and reviewing the second ground might require us to consider the underlying decision of the IJ, something it is not clear we may do on appeal from a denial of reconsideration, we do not reach whether the BIA abused its discretion in finding that issue to be harmless.
Because the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying petitioner’s motion for reconsideration, the petition for review is DENIED.
. In his motion to reconsider, Lin claimed that he was persecuted on account of his religion and political views. Lin waived these claims in his petition for review.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Zeng Shui LIN v. Alberto R. GONZALES, Attorney General
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published