Liang v. Holder, 09-3713

Chinese citizen's claim of changed country conditions based on China's "one-child" policy

Liang v. Holder, 09-3713, concerned a Chinese citizen's petition for review of the BIA's denial of a motion to reopen and again apply for asylum, withholding of removal and CAT protection.  In denying the petition, the court held that the BIA gave a rational explanations for its conclusion that petitioner failed to show changed country conditions regarding China's "one-child" policy, in her home province since the time of her initial asylum hearing.  Further, the BIA's decision did not inexplicably depart from established policies or rest on an impermissible basis.

As the court wrote: "A major obstacle to Liang's motion to reopen her removal proceedings based on changed country conditions was the fact that China's "one-child" policy did not represent a change in the country's conditions. The one-child policy is not new; in fact, it is more than thirty years old."

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Read the Seventh Circuit's Full Decision in Liang v. Holder, 09-3713