16‐3478‐ag Yan Yang v. Barr UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT ____________________ August Term, 2017 (Argued: May 17, 2018 Decided: July 2, 2019) Docket No. 16‐3478‐ag ____________________ YAN YANG, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM P. BARR, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ____________________ Before: POOLER, WESLEY, and LOHIER, Circuit Judges. Petition for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals, denying Yan Yang’s application for asylum. We hold that once Yang demonstrated the existence of changed circumstances permitting her late filing, the Immigration Judge and Board of Immigration Appeals were obligated to consider her entire application, because nothing in the plain language of the statute limits review to the specific claim that formed the basis of the changed circumstance. Accordingly, we GRANT the petition for review and REMAND the application for asylum to the BIA for the limited purpose of granting the application. Judge Wesley dissents in a separate opinion. Judge Lohier concurs in a separate opinion. Granted and REMANDED. ____________________ GARY J. YERMAN, New York, NY, for Petitioner Yan Yang. STEFANIE NOTARINO HENNES, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation (Leslie McKay, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, on the brief), for Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondent William P. Barr, United States Attorney General. POOLER, Circuit Judge: We are asked to determine whether the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (“INA”) exception for late filing applies only to changed circumstances 2 underpinning a successful claim, or whether the changed circumstances permit an application for asylum on multiple bases, including bases that are unrelated to the changed circumstances. We hold that the plain language of the statute unambiguously permits an applicant to raise multiple claims in her asylum application, even if the changed circumstance relates only to one proffered basis for asylum. Accordingly, we grant the petition for review and remand the application to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) for the limited purpose of granting Yang’s application for asylum.1 BACKGROUND Yan Yang was born in China in 1973. In September 1992, Yang met her husband, Shen Zhonghua, while she was working in a garment factory in Shenzhen. On July 6, 1994, Yang and Zhonghua returned to his hometown of Wutong Town to register their marriage with the government. Yang and her husband were both required to submit to a mandatory physical examination at a hospital before the local government would register their marriage. This exam 1For reasons explained in Section II, the government abandoned any additional challenges to Yang’s eligibility for asylum on the basis of her forced abortion in China. Having decided the one issue on appeal, there is no other issue to be decided. 3 revealed that Yang was “pregnant without prior authorization” since she and Zhonghua were not yet married. Certified Administrative Record (“CAR”) at 536. Yang was immediately forced to have an abortion. Yang entered the United States on a tourist visa on June 3, 2002, but remained in the United States ...
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