Peng-Fei Si v. Slattery

No. 94-2640 (2d Cir. filed Jan. 30, 1995) ; Clearinghouse Number: 50772

Description

Refugee from Forced Sterilization Asks Second Circuit to Find Him Eligible for Political Asylum and Withholding of Deportation

Abstract

The parties have filed their briefs with the Second Circuit in this action challenging the decision of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to deny appellant’s application for political asylum and withholding of deportation. Appellant, a Chinese national, fled his home country to avoid persecution and forced sterilization pursuant to its “one family, one child” policy. Ultimately, appellant came to the United States aboard the Golden Venture, a boat that ran aground in New York in 1993 with 327 refugees aboard. Appellant asserts that he fears severe punishment upon his return to China because of the extraordinary embarrassment that the Golden Venture incident has brought the Chinese government and the individualized publicity that his family has received in the United States. INS denied appellant’s request for asylum and withholding of deportation and ordered him excluded. Upon judicial review, the district court remanded the case to INS for reconsideration in accordance with instructions on parole and humanitarian stays of deportation issued by INS on August 5, 1994. Both parties moved for clarification of the court’s order. The district court denied appellant’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and enjoined his expulsion on the condition that he apply for an expedited appeal. On appeal, appellant argues that the district court erred by failing to accord deference to a six-year-old policy of the Attorney General that allows asylum and withholding eligibility based on subjection to coercive family-planning practices. Appellant also argues that the district court erred in failing to recognize the passengers of the Golden Venture as a “particular social group” eligible for asylum and withholding because they (1) are closely affiliated people actuated by a common impulse; (2) are linked by a fundamental characteristic that distinguishes them in the eyes of the Chinese government and the outside world; and (3) form part of a recognizable and discrete group.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Petitioner-Appellant represented by Jean Peters, Wesley Hsu (law student), Stanley Hsue (law student), Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, P.O. Box 209090, New Haven, CT 06520-9090, (203) 432-4806; Stanley Mark.
Docket Date
1995-01-30 00:00:00+00:00