NEW YORK, September 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Xia J. Lin has two children and in China that is an illegal act punishable by forced sterilization. Lin is pregnant with a third child and says she has already undergone three forced abortions in China. She is living in New York City and hopes to have her husband and two other children join her soon. Lin had fled China to the US and applied for refugee status, which was turned down by an immigration judge. On Wednesday, a federal appeals court in Chicago overturned the first decision.
The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals criticized the immigration judge's reasoning saying that the case should not go back to the original immigration judge. However, the ruling included one warning that the immigration 'floodgates' could be opened for women of childbearing age from China escaping the single-child policy. This was echoed by Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform who said, "We couldn't let everyone [in China] who wants to have 10 kids come here."
The work of Stephen Mosher and the Population Research Institute has educated the US government and softened immigration policies related to China's forced abortion policy. In 1996 immigration reform legislation allowed the inclusion as refugees those fleeing coercive population control policies.
Read Chicago Tribune coverage (registration required): http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0409230371sep23,1,1457617.story?coll=chi-news-hed
MSNBC story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5953508/
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