Immigration – Asylum

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Civil

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: POSNER, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges

Immigration – Asylum

No. 15-1261 Lishou Wang v. Loretta E. Lynch

Petition for review granted after Appellant petition for asylum denied. Appellant sought to escape persecution from China’s “coercive population control program”.

“Under § 1101(a)(42), if Wang’s wife were forcibly sterilized or forced to have an abortion, she could establish per se persecution on account of political opinion. See Chen v. Holder, 604 F.3d 324, 331 (7th Cir. 2010). And in that case Wang could seek relief for himself if he had been harmed for resisting her sterilization or abortion. See id.; Jin v. Holder, 572 F.3d 392, 397 (7th Cir. 2009). But Wang also may seek relief if he suffered persecution for engaging in “other resistance to a coercive population control program,” 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42). Under this provision, the precise procedure that Wang’s wife underwent as part of that program is beside the point. China’s “coercive population control program” is not limited to only forced abortions and sterilizations; it also forces couples to use birth-control measures such as condoms, pills, and IUDs. See Population and Family Planning Law (P.R.C.) (promulgated by the Standing Comm. Nat’l People’s Cong., Dec. 29, 2001, effective Sept. 1, 2000), reprinted in U.S. Dep’t of State, 2007 China Profile of Asylum Claims & Country Conditions; see also Chen v. Holder, 737 F.3d 1084, 1089 (7th Cir. 2013). Wang’s claim that he was punished for opposing the efforts of family-planning officials to enforce the population-control program, either by sterilizing him or his wife or by implanting a contraceptive device into his wife’s arm, thus falls within the protection of the statute”

Petition granted. Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.