CHICAGO (CN) - Four Chinese citizens cannot reopen their asylum proceedings before the Board of Immigration Appeals, despite their claims of potential persecution under China's "one-child" policy, the 7th Circuit ruled.
Judge Posner ruled that the court can only review a decision of the board if a question of law is on the table. None of the four cases posed such a question.
For example, Xue Jin Li did not show that she would face a fine in China that she could not pay, which would result in her sterilization.
By contrast, the court's ruling one week earlier did pose such a question of law, because the government's lawyer stated that the sterilization policy does not constitute persecution. This statement contradicted numerous court rulings that "resistance to a coercive population control program is grounds for asylum."
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