Woman facing forced sterilization seeks asylum
DENVER (AP) A woman who feared that deportation to China meant forced abortion or sterilization upon arrival at her homeland lost her bid for asylum in the United States.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday denied Xiu Mei Wei's request to reopen her case.
A three-judge panel said that Wei failed to present ''material evidence'' that her case be reopened based on conditions in China or her personal circumstances, including her fourth pregnancy.
Wei's temporary visa expired in April 1997 but she didn't apply for asylum until November 2002 when she was pregnant with her third child. A message left after business hours for her attorney, Lorance Hockert, was not immediately returned.
As part of her application for asylum, Wei attached a formal notice regarding enforcement of China's one-child policy sent to her mother by authorities in her hometown of Changle City, Fijian Province. It advised her that is she didn't abort her third child, she or husband would be sterilized upon their return.
She also provided proof that her sister-in-law had been forced to undergo an abortion and sterilized when she became pregnant with her third child.
In its ruling, the judges upheld an immigration judge and Board of Immigration Appeals rejection of her application based on her failure to file it within the required one year of arriving in the U.S. and failure to demonstrate changed or extraordinary circumstances justifying the delay.
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