UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 18-1110 MING FANG CHEN; ZHAO WU ZENG, a/k/a Zhou Wu Zheng, Petitioners – Appellants, v. MATTHEW G. WHITAKER, Acting Attorney General, Respondent – Appellee. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Submitted: December 14, 2018 Decided: December 21, 2018 Before KING, DIAZ, and RICHARDSON, Circuit Judges. Petition for review denied by unpublished per curiam opinion. Theodore N. Cox, New York, New York, for Petitioners. Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Shelley R. Goad, Assistant Director, Kristen A. Giuffreda, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: Petitioners Ming Fang Chen and her husband Zhao Wu Zeng are citizens of the People’s Republic of China who have been ordered removed from the United States and seek to reopen their removal proceedings. This petition represents their second effort to have the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “BIA”) reopen their removal proceedings. Their underlying claims and their effort to reopen are predicated on their Christian faith and their assertion that conditions for practicing Christians in China have worsened in recent years. As explained below, the petitioners are unable to satisfy the demanding standard for reopening such proceedings, and we deny their petition for review. I. A. The petitioners are natives and citizens of the Fujian province of China who met each other and married in the United States. See A.R. 55, 62, 69. 1 They now have two children who are American citizens. In June 2006, while pregnant with her second child, Chen filed an affirmative application for asylum and withholding of removal, alleging that she would be forced to undergo an abortion or be sterilized if she returned to China. See id. at 4339-49. Chen listed her husband as a derivative beneficiary. 1 Citations herein to “A.R.__” refer to the contents of the Administrative Record filed in this proceeding. 2 The Department of Homeland Security (the “DHS”) referred Chen’s asylum application to an immigration judge (the “IJ”) and commenced removal proceedings against both petitioners by issuing separate Notices to Appear. The notices charged the petitioners with removability as aliens present in this country without being admitted or paroled. The petitioners each conceded before the IJ that they were removable as charged and renewed their requests for relief. While Chen’s application was pending, Zeng submitted his own application for asylum and withholding of removal, listing Chen as a derivative beneficiary. See A.R. 4520-30. Following a hearing on the merits, the IJ granted Chen’s application for asylum and withholding of removal on February 16, 2007. See id. at 3701-12. That award extended to Zeng, as Chen’s spouse and derivative beneficiary. See id.; see also 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(3); 8 C.F.R. § 208.21. During the following month, the DHS appealed the IJ’s ruling in favor of the petitioners. See A.R. 3696-98. The DHS contended on appeal that ...
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