Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
Zhou Jian Ni v. Attorney General of the United States
Citation: 357 F. App'x 419Docket: No. 08-3841
Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; December 16, 2009; Federal Appellate Court
Zhou Jian Ni, a Chinese citizen, entered the U.S. in 1992 as an asylum applicant, but his application was denied in 1993 without appeal. In January 2007, he filed a motion to reopen his immigration proceedings, citing new conditions in China that would expose him to forced sterilization due to his two children born in the U.S. The Immigration Judge (IJ) denied his motion, and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissed his appeal, leading Ni to file a petition for review. The jurisdiction for this case is based on 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a), which allows review of the BIA’s decisions for abuse of discretion. The BIA's factual findings are upheld unless unreasonable, and motions to reopen must typically be filed within 90 days of a removal order, unless based on materially changed circumstances in the applicant's country. Ni's motion failed to demonstrate such changed circumstances for three reasons. First, the BIA found that Ni's affidavit merely reiterated previously considered fears without showing new evidence. Second, the BIA noted that similar documents had been reviewed in past cases without showing material changes in policies. Lastly, the BIA highlighted that Ni's case was distinguishable from another case (Guo) because Ni did not file his motion timely, therefore bearing the burden to show changed circumstances. Without sufficient grounds to question the BIA's assessment, the court denied Ni’s petition for review.