In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 19-1892 MERIYU, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM P. BARR, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. ____________________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. No. A079-319-281 ____________________ ARGUED DECEMBER 17, 2019 — DECIDED FEBRUARY 26, 2020 ____________________ Before RIPPLE, SYKES, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges. RIPPLE, Circuit Judge. Meriyu, an Indonesian citizen who is of Chinese descent and of the Buddhist faith, petitions for review of the denial of her motion to reopen removal pro- ceedings that concluded more than fourteen years ago. In 2002, Ms. Meriyu sought relief based on fear of persecution on account of race and religion but was ordered removed after she failed to appear at a hearing before an immigration 2 No. 19-1892 judge. Fourteen years later, she moved to reopen the pro- ceedings. The Board of Immigration Appeals (“the Board”) upheld an IJ’s ruling that the motion was untimely and that she could not show a material change in country conditions since the hearing. She subsequently filed two motions to re- open that were denied for similar reasons. In this petition for review, Ms. Meriyu challenges the denial of her most recent motion to reopen. The Board did not abuse its discretion in denying her motion, and we therefore deny her petition for review. I. BACKGROUND Ms. Meriyu, now forty-nine years old, testified that she experienced mistreatment because of her Chinese ethnicity and Buddhist faith while growing up in Indonesia. In high school, she once was taunted on her walk to a bus stop, held up at knifepoint, and then sexually molested. She recalled being subjected to discrimination at local temples during Chinese New Year festivities, when Indonesian Muslims would “extort money” from Chinese Buddhists and “threat- en us.”1 In May 1998, when large-scale riots erupted across the country (eventually leading to the resignation of Presi- dent Suharto and the fall of the New Order government), her brother’s shop and her aunt’s home were looted and burned, and her sister’s home was vandalized. She says that the vio- lence prompted her to leave Indonesia, and in 2000 she came to the United States on a six-month nonimmigrant visa. She overstayed. 1 Admin. R. at 310. No. 19-1892 3 Since coming to the United States, Ms. Meriyu has taken care of her mother, who died in 2005; married; and raised a child, who is now twelve years old. In 2001, Ms. Meriyu ap- plied for asylum. In 2002, she was served with a Notice to Appear charging her with removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(B), as an alien who remained longer than permitted after admission. At a removal hearing, Ms. Meriyu conceded removability but requested asylum and withholding of removal. Her hearing before an immi- gration judge was scheduled for June 2003, but she failed to appear and was ordered removed in absentia. Her attorney at the time moved to withdraw, and Ms. Meriyu’s applica- tion was denied for ...
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