Jiaren Shi v. U.S. Attorney General, 707 F.3d 1231

Shi, a Chinese Christian, seeks asylum based on alleged religious persecution starting with a 2002 police raid on a home church.
Police confiscated Bibles, arrested Shi and congregants, and detained Shi for seven days with interrogations and physical abuse.
During the second interrogation Shi was handcuffed to an iron bar outside in the rain overnight, leading to illness.
Shi’s father led the unlicensed church; authorities searched the home, described the service as an illegal meeting, and pressured Shi to abandon church involvement.
Shi fled China after release, first arriving in Canada, then entering the United States; his credibility was assumed by the BIA for purposes of this appeal.
The BIA denied asylum on the basis that the alleged harms did not amount to persecution, though the IJ’s credibility determination was not reviewed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the record compels a finding of past persecution	Shi was persecuted for religion when police disrupted service, confiscated materials, detained him, and abused him.	Even if true, acts were not the extreme deprivation required for persecution.	Yes; the totality of circumstances constitutes past persecution.
Whether the BIA properly weighed the harms cumulatively	Aggregate harms, including confinement, abuse, and confiscation, show persecution.	Harms viewed in isolation do not meet the persecution standard.	Harms must be evaluated cumulatively; they do compel persecution.
Impact of credibility and timely filing on relief	Credibility assumed by BIA and timing issues do not defeat relief if persecution is shown.	Any credibility or timeliness deficiencies could undermine eligibility.	Court treats credibility as assumed and remands on the persecution finding; does not decide future fear here.

Gonzalez v. Reno, 212 F.3d 1338 (11th Cir. 2000) (persecution requires more than isolated incidents; totality may matter)
Ghaly v. INS, 58 F.3d 1425 (9th Cir. 1995) (persecution is an extreme concept not all abusive conduct qualifies)
Mikhailevitch v. INS, 146 F.3d 384 (6th Cir. 1998) (extreme deprivation necessary for persecution)
Ruiz v. Gonzales, 479 F.3d 762 (11th Cir. 2007) (evaluate harms cumulatively in totality-of-the-circumstances approach)
Kazemzadeh v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 577 F.3d 1341 (11th Cir. 2009) (religious persecution context and asylum framework)
Li v. Holder, 559 F.3d 1096 (9th Cir. 2009) (comparative harms showing persecution including detention and mistreatment)
INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421 (1987) (burden of proof framework for refugee status)
Zheng v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 451 F.3d 1287 (11th Cir. 2006) (detention duration informs persecution analysis)
Djonda v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 514 F.3d 1168 (11th Cir. 2008) (physical abuse and detention as factors in persecution)
Niftaliev v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 504 F.3d 1211 (11th Cir. 2007) (cumulative harms may compel past persecution)
Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730 (2002) (hitching post analogy for extreme governmental punishment)
Jiang v. Gonzales, 485 F.3d 992 (7th Cir. 2007) (consider evidence of religious materials confiscation and ongoing monitoring)