Baljit Singh v. Attorney General United States

574 F. App'x 120
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJuly 17, 2014
Docket14-1535
StatusUnpublished

This text of 574 F. App'x 120 (Baljit Singh v. Attorney General United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baljit Singh v. Attorney General United States, 574 F. App'x 120 (3d Cir. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Petitioner Baljit Singh petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision denying his motion to reopen removal proceedings. For the reasons that follow, we will deny the petition for review.

Singh, a native and citizen of India, entered the United States in 2006 without being admitted or inspected. Removal proceedings were initiated in 2007 pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i). In response, Singh applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture, claiming that he was harassed and beaten on two occasions by Congress Party officials in his village in the Punjab because he refused to join the party. He sustained injuries after his first arrest which were treated at home by his mother. Following his second detention, Singh went to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. Singh testified that his brother also had been threatened by the Congress Party, and that his brother fled to England.

The Immigration Judge found Singh’s testimony incredible, and found that he should have provided corroborative evidence from his brother. The IJ based his adverse credibility determination on three points of inconsistency between Singh’s testimony and the documentary evidence: (1) Singh testified that the name of the hospital where he sought treatment was the Tanda District hospital, when in fact the hospital is called the Bhela Maternity and General Hospital in the Tanda District; (2) Singh testified that he stayed two nights in the hospital when the record showed he stayed only one night; and (3) Singh testified that he arrived in the United States from Canada via taxi, but his affidavit stated that he arrived by ship.

*122 On July 2, 2010, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed the appeal because it found no clear error in the IJ’s adverse credibility determination. The Board also affirmed the IJ’s finding that Singh should have presented corroborating evidence from his brother in England. Finally, the Board noted that there was no support in the record for the conclusion that Singh would likely be tortured by or with the acquiescence of a government official upon his return to India.

Singh petitioned for review of the Board’s decision. After full briefing, we denied the petition for review, reasoning as follows:

While not a particularly compelling adverse credibility finding, we cannot say that the record compels a different conclusion. For example, in his asylum application, Singh said he arrived in the United States by ship, but testified that he crossed the border in a car. When the IJ confronted him about this inconsistency and elicited further testimony, his story changed several times. He said he arrived by ship, then changed his testimony to he arrived by taxi and then boarded and waited on a ship. While this does not go to the heart of Singh’s claim and strikes us as relatively minor, this inconsistency combined with the other minor inconsistencies, does not compel a conclusion that Singh is credible. Even if the testimony was credible, the BIA’s determination that Singh failed to present readily available corroborating testimony is also supported by substantial evidence. In his testimony, Singh referenced that his brother was similarly mistreated for his unwillingness to be politically active, yet he did not provide any documentation corroborating his story. When the IJ probed further, Singh indicated he did not have contact with his brother but his parents, whom Singh was in contact with, did.

Singh v. Att’y Gen. of U.S., 462 Fed.Appx. 209, 211 (3d Cir.2012) (citations to record omitted).

On November 14, 2013, Singh filed a motion to reopen with the Board. Because the motion was not filed within 90 days of the Board’s prior decision, Singh argued that he could show a change in country conditions since his merits hearing in 2008. In support of his motion to reopen, Singh argued that the police continue to be interested in him and he offered his own declaration and two declarations from his father attesting to the police’s continued interest. In one, his father stated that, on July 3, 2012, the police came to his house to check on his son. In the other, his father stated that police officers had raided the family home on July 12, 2013 and threatened to kill Singh. Singh also based his motion on allegedly new information on torture in India. He submitted a 2012 article from Human Rights Watch, a document titled “Torture in India 2011” that was published by the Asian Centre for Human Rights, the State Department’s 2012 Country Report on human rights practices in India, and a news article discussing discrimination against Sikhs. Singh further argued that the original adverse credibility determination was flawed.

On February 6, 2014, the Board denied Singh’s motion to reopen as untimely filed; the Board would not apply the exception for changed country conditions. The Board concluded that Singh had failed to provide any detailed explanation for why the police would continue to be interested in him more than 6 years after his departure from India, and that Singh had failed to explain how his country conditions evidence pertained specifically to his claim. The Board noted ongoing concerns in India that might be generally relevant but *123 found that there was no change in conditions sufficient to support a claim that Singh was prima facie eligible for asylum, citing Matter of S-Y-G-, 24 I. & N. Dec. 247, 253 (BIA 2007). The Board gave limited weight to Singh’s father’s declarations.

Singh has timely petitioned for review. We have jurisdiction to review a final order of removal pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1), (b)(1). We review the denial of a motion to reopen for an abuse of discretion. Immigration & Naturalization Serv. v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314, 323, 112 S.Ct. 719, 116 L.Ed.2d 823 (1992). Under this deferential standard, we will not overturn the Board’s decision unless it is arbitrary, irrational, or contrary to the law. See Guo v. Ashcroft, 386 F.3d 556, 562 (3d Cir.2004). Moreover, the Supreme Court has warned that “[mjotions for reopening of immigration proceedings are disfavored,” noting that “as a general matter, every delay works to the advantage of the deportable alien who wishes merely to remain in the United States.” Id. That warning is germane here. We uphold the Board’s factual determinations underlying the denial of the motion to reopen if they are “ ‘supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole.’ ” Zheng v. Att’y Gen. of U.S., 549 F.3d 260, 266 (3d Cir.2008) (quoting Immigration & Naturalization Serv. v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481, 112 S.Ct.

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Related

Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Abudu
485 U.S. 94 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Doherty
502 U.S. 314 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Lin v. Attorney General United States
700 F.3d 683 (Third Circuit, 2012)
Zheng v. Attorney General of the United States
549 F.3d 260 (Third Circuit, 2008)
S-Y-G
24 I. & N. Dec. 247 (Board of Immigration Appeals, 2007)
COELHO
20 I. & N. Dec. 464 (Board of Immigration Appeals, 1992)
Singh v. Attorney General of the United States
462 F. App'x 209 (Third Circuit, 2012)

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574 F. App'x 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baljit-singh-v-attorney-general-united-states-ca3-2014.