WEIQIANG CAI v. BARR (2019)

MEMORANDUM ***

Weiqiang Cai petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his application for asylum. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252, and we grant the petition.

Here, the BIA explicitly declined to reach the validity of the IJ’s adverse credibility finding. Thus, we are permitted to consider only the BIA’s conclusion that Cai’s experiences did not rise to the level of past persecution. See Navas v. INS, 217 F.3d 646, 658 n.16 (9th Cir. 2000) (explaining that we “cannot affirm the BIA on a ground upon which it did not rely”).

We review for substantial evidence the BIA’s factual finding that Cai failed to establish past persecution. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). “To reverse the BIA ․ we must find that the evidence not only supports [a conclusion of past persecution], but compels it․” Id. at 481 n.1, 112 S.Ct. 812 (emphasis omitted).

We conclude that the evidence compels the conclusion that Cai’s experiences amounted to past persecution because Cai was beaten, imprisoned, required to sign a paper stating that he would not engage in further political sit-ins, and required to report to the police station weekly. See Guo v. Sessions, 897 F.3d 1208, 1213–17 (9th Cir. 2018).

The petition for review is GRANTED and REMANDED.