Singh v. Holder
| Decision Date | 05 November 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. 11–1609.,11–1609. |
| Citation | 699 F.3d 321 |
| Parties | Gurpreet Bhabra SINGH, Petitioner, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
ARGUED:Garish Sarin, Law Offices of Garish Sarin, Los Angeles, California, for Petitioner. Lindsay Corliss, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Tony West, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, William C. Peachey, Assistant Director, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondent.
Before DUNCAN, AGEE, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.
Petition denied by published opinion. Judge DUNCAN wrote the opinion, in which Judge AGEE and Judge DIAZ joined.
Petitioner Gurpreet Bhabra Singh (“Singh”) seeks judicial review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “Board”) denying his application for withholding of removal under both the Immigration and Nationality Act (the “INA”) and under Article III of the Convention Against Torture (the “CAT”). Singh contends that the Board denied him relief in part based on an improper adverse credibility determination. Singh also argues that the errors of an incompetent interpreter during his immigration proceedings violated his right to due process. For the reasons explained below, we find no error, and therefore deny Singh's petition for review.
Singh, born in 1985 in the Punjab state of India, is a native and citizen of that country, and a member of the Sikh religion. He departed his native country at some point in October 2005, traveling to Mexico on a student visa. In February 2006, he entered the United States from Mexico. After being served with a Notice to Appear by the Department of Homeland Security on November 29, 2007, Singh applied for withholding of removal under the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3), and under the CAT, see8 C.F.R. § 208.16(c).
In his application and during the immigration proceedings, Singh explained the circumstances which led to his flight from India. The following facts are drawn from those narratives, and, unless otherwise noted, are undisputed by the government.
Singh's father, Surinder Singh (“Surinder”), is a wealthy and influential farmer in the Punjab state where he and his family live. Sunil Dutti (“Dutti”), a member of the then-ruling Nationalist Congress party and the mayor of the town where the Singhs lived, sought Surinder's political support. Surinder, however, had professed himself a supporter of the then-opposition Akali Dal Party.
Singh also claimed allegiance to the Akali Dal Party, which he described as primarily committed to the care of Sikh religious shrines and providing assistance to rural farmers. According to Singh, although Sikhs can and do join different political parties, the Akali Dal Party is widely considered the leading Sikh political party. Singh testified that his involvement with the Akali Dal Party consisted of accompanying his father on campaign and fundraising visits.1
On January 26, 2005, Singh was at home when three members of the Congress Party, including one known supporter of Dutti, accompanied by three police officers, arrived in search of Surinder. Singh answered the door, and the group then forced its way into the house. Singh informed them that his father was not at home, but that they could speak with him instead. According to Singh, members of the group then sought to persuade him to convince his family—in particular his father—to support the Congress party in part by offering various sorts of benefits. When this attempt at persuasion proved ineffective, the group resorted to more coercive tactics.
After reminding Singh that the Congress Party was in power, the group threatened him by telling him they could do whatever they wanted to him. Singh responded that he would report any misconduct to higher authorities, and an argument ensued. At some point the group indicated that they had come to arrest Surinder. According to Singh, when he protested the police had no cause to arrest his father and demanded to see the arrest warrant, the police officers arrested him instead.
The police transported Singh to a nearby police station where they told Singh he would be held until his father came to pick him up. The police held Singh for two days. During that time, they slapped and hit him, and at night, they tied his arms behind his back and further abused him. The police also beat him with a police club that broke his arm and rendered him unconscious.Upon waking from this beating, Singh noted he had been burned with a cigarette.
On January 28, 2005, Surinder came to the police station to secure the release of his son. Surinder gave 100,000 Indian rupees to the police, and they released Singh. According to Singh, Surinder knew one of the police officers personally, and thus was able to secure Singh's release but avoid arrest himself.
In June 2005, the officers who had arrested Singh in January reappeared looking for him. This time, Surinder was at home while Singh was not. After the police left, Surinder advised his son to leave their home in the Punjab state. Singh then borrowed money from a friend and traveled to Delhi, where he lived with relatives. He stayed in Delhi from June until October 2005, at which point he obtained a student visa to travel to Mexico. Singh claimed that he could not remain in Delhi because the police were looking for him throughout the country, and he feared they would file a false case against him, or worse, “take [him] anywhere and ... kill [him].” J.A. 138.
Upon arrival in Mexico at some point in October or November 2005, Singh was detained by immigration authorities until the first week of February 2006. Once released, Singh headed to the United States, crossing the border on February 20, 2006. After being served with a Notice to Appear in November 2007, Singh applied for withholding of removal under the INA and CAT in January 2008.
Singh also recounted an incident that occurred to his father in August 2007—after Singh had already arrived in the United States. While the police were detaining Singh in January 2005, Surinder had unsuccessfully sought the intervention of the Akali Dal Party. In reaction to that party's failure to assist, Surinder withdrew his support. According to Singh, the Akali Dal Party retaliated two years later, in August 2007, by coming to the Singh family house, beating Surinder, and breaking one of his legs.
Along with his application, Singh submitted two types of supporting documentation. First, Singh included a number of articles and reports attesting to human rights abuses in various parts of India, including by police in the Punjab state. The report most pertinent to Singh's claim is a 2007 British Home Office Operational Guidance Note on India which describes the relationship then existing between the Congress and Akali Dal Parties:
The Akali Dal and the Congress Party are both legal political parties within India who campaign and participate in State and National elections. There is no evidence to suggest that members of one party fearing ill-treatment or persecution by individual members of the other party could not seek protection from the authorities or relocate internally to escape a local threat.
J.A. 173–74. Second, Singh submitted affidavits from his family members and close family friends, as well as hospital reports documenting the scope of his injuries.
One final fact warrants mention. At some point after January 2005 and before Singh's immigration hearing, the Akali Dal Party came to power in the state of Punjab. It appears the Akali Dal Party remains in power in the Punjab state as part of a ruling coalition.2
After submitting his application for withholding of removal and protection under the CAT,3 Singh appeared for a hearing before an Immigration Judge (the “IJ”) on March 13, 2008. Because Singh's counsel had previously agreed to conduct the hearing in English, no interpreter was present. Shortly into that hearing, however, the IJ determined Singh's English was inadequate to comprehend fully what was transpiring. The IJ therefore continued the hearing to a later date, explaining to Singh that “it is very important that the Court hears your application and it's very important that I understand your story.” J.A. 80.
When the hearing recommenced on November 14, 2008, a Punjabi interpreter was in the courtroom. The IJ explained to Singh the procedures for communicating through and with an interpreter, including the need to inform the interpreter if Singh did not understand. Singh confirmed that he understood the procedures, and agreed to follow them.
At one point early in the November hearing, Singh's counsel was questioning Singh about founding figures in the Sikh religion. The IJ asked Singh's counsel to have the names spelled for the record, and counsel suggested, given his inability to speak Punjabi, that the interpreter was in a better position to spell the names properly. The interpreter responded that her lack of familiarity with the Sikh religion rendered her unable to spell the names correctly: “I can understand Punjabi and speak Punjabi, but the way that the names are you can spell them differently.” J.A. 108. The IJ then directed Singh's counsel to move on. Singh proceeded to testify concerning the merits of his claims.
On May 6, 2009, the IJ entered a written memorandum and order denying Singh's application for withholding of removal under both the INA and the CAT, and ordering Singh removed from the United States to India. Applying the REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub.L. No. 109–13, 119 Stat. 302 (the “REAL ID Act”), the IJ found Singh's testimony lacked credibility because it failed to offer a plausible explanation for why his father was able to secure his release from prison without being himself arrested and failed to provide a coherent explanation of Singh's own political views. The IJ also concluded that...
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