States reversed its decision to expel a "house-church" Christian from Communist China, but warned of a difficult legal road ahead for him and other persecuted believers.
Xiaodong Li was initially denied asylum in the US because he was a member of an "illegal" house church. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reportedly upheld a US Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision.
But under pressure from "religious freedom and human rights groups, including Christians throughout the US," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allowed him to stay in America, said Jubilee Campaign USA, an influential lobby group in Congress in a statement to BosNewsLife.
"In an abrupt and surprise move, on Tuesday, October 4, DHS filed a motion" to reopen his case and this Thursday, October 6, the BIA, "issued its decision…reinstating the original decision of the immigration judge who found that Li was credible [and] suffered persecution as a house church member in China," it said.
SUFFERING PERSECUTION
Jubilee Campaign USA stressed the judge found that Li had suffered persecution "in the mid-1990s and should receive America’s protection from being returned to the probability of persecution in China on account of his religious faith and practice."
An estimated 60 million Christians in China gather in house congregations on principle grounds as they do not want to limit worship to Communist sanctioned state churches. Many of them are harassed and end up in jail, human rights groups claim.
"Li had fled to the US seeking asylum after his apartment was raided by police in Ningbo, China. [He] was punched, kicked, and shocked with electric batons until he "confessed" to organizing "unauthorized" Christian house-church meetings," said Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International, another human rights watchdog.
IMMIGRATION JUDGE
In 2000 an immigration judge ordered that Li receives refugee protection, however the Immigration and Naturalization Service appealed the grant of protection to BIA. The BIA eventually concluded that Li’s "prosecution" was "permissible".
A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit of Appeals agreed with BIA saying that China’s state-run Three Self Patriotic Protestant Church was available for Li to attend if he wanted to worship God. It reportedly said that China had the right to prosecute Li for praying and worshiping in his private home with others who shared his faith.
Jubilee Campaign USA warned that "although Li has received the good news of protection in America, the decision of the Fifth Circuit still stands…" It said "Li’s attorneys filed a Petition for En Banc Review in the Fifth Circuit".
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
In addition "organizations across the ideological spectrum–from Christian Legal Society and Jubilee Campaign to Amnesty International and the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic–are filing "friend of the court" briefs in support of Li," the group explained.
They are "seeking the reversal of the Fifth Circuit’s reasoning in its August decision, which still stands despite BIA’s reversal of its appeal and agreement to refugee protection."
If "the Fifth Circuit [ruling] is not reversed, it could become impossible for a convert from Islam to Christianity to seek refugee protection in the United States. That would be a travesty to the deeply held religious values that America stands for and promotes around the world," Jubilee USA argued. "Jubilee will continue to advocate for this dangerous precedent to be reversed," the group said. (With BosNewsLife News Center, BosNewsLife Research and reports from China).
