Yan v. Gonzales
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
438 F.3d 1249 (2006)
- Written by Mary Katherine Cunningham, JD
Facts
Yong Ting Yan (defendant) entered the United States from the People’s Republic of China and sought religious asylum. The United States government, represented by Gonzales (plaintiff), began deportation proceedings before an immigration judge (IJ). Yan testified that he started attending meetings with other Christians in a house church, and he was baptized by a pastor. Yan also testified that the Chinese authorities broke up the house church in China, jailed him, and beat him. On cross-examination, the government counsel asked Yan about the Old Testament and New Testament, and Yan answered the questions with only minor errors. The government counsel also asked Yan about the exact dates of Christmas and Easter, and Yan was able only to answer when Christmas occurred. Yan also testified that he attended two Chinese-language churches in Los Angeles, a fact confirmed by another witness. The IJ denied the asylum request, noting his concerns about Yan’s commitment to Christianity. The IJ found that Yan “seemed to only have rudimentary knowledge of the Christian religion.” The IJ also found Yan failed to show he would be targeted by the Chinese government because of his religious faith. The IJ stated that the evidence from the State Department indicated that Chinese government would ordinarily not target house churches like the church attended by Yan, rendering his testimony about the government’s raid on his church incredible. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirmed the IJ’s decision, and Yan appealed to the Tenth Circuit, reasserting his religious-asylum claim.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (McConnell, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.