Singh v. Sessions

• Decision Date: 28 April 2017
• Docket Number: Case No. 16-4005
• Parties: GURPREET SINGH, Petitioner, v. JEFF B. SESSIONS, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

GURPREET SINGH, Petitioner,
v.
JEFF B. SESSIONS, U.S. Attorney General, Respondent.

Case No. 16-4005

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

April 28, 2017

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION
File Name: 17a0242n.06

ON PETITION FOR REVIEW FROM THE UNITED STATES BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS

BEFORE: GIBBONS, SUTTON, and COOK, Circuit Judges.

COOK, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Gurpreet Singh entered the United States without authorization and filed applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. His right to relief hinged on his credibility: did his account of being beaten by Indian police establish a well-founded fear of persecution? An immigration judge (IJ) found Singh not credible, denied relief on that basis, and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirmed. Because substantial evidence supports the IJ's credibility determination, we DENY Singh's petition for review.

I.

Singh is a citizen and native of India and member of the Sikh faith. In July 2010, he flew to Canada before entering the United States without authorization. A few months later, the

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Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against him. Although Singh admitted removability, he fought deportation by filing an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. An IJ scheduled a hearing and accepted documentary evidence in support of Singh's application.

At the hearing, Singh testified that he belongs to the political organization Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar ("Amritsar"), which advocates for Sikhs' political rights and the creation of an independent Sikh state in India's Punjab province. Singh joined the party in March 2009 and was tasked with recruiting other Sikhs to join. Singh recalled three incidents where police arrested and beat him for speaking at Amritsar rallies.

According to Singh, police first arrested him in December 2009 and beat him repeatedly with wooden sticks for four days. A local doctor named Kakkar secured Singh's release by bribing police. Although police warned Singh to cease advocating for Amritsar, he returned to recruiting Sikhs and was arrested again in April and June 2010. He testified that police beat him, salted his wounds, and withheld food and water. Upon his release, a local doctor named Sood provided medical treatment at Singh's home. Singh claims that police threatened to kill him if he continued advocating for Sikh rights, prompting his decision to flee India.

Singh submitted documentary evidence to corroborate his testimony, but the IJ concluded that the majority of it actually impeached his credibility. Most significantly, whereas Singh asserted that Dr. Sood provided medical treatment at Singh's home, the record includes a note from Dr. Kakkar—written on hospital letterhead—describing Singh's injuries and explaining that he was "admitted" during the exact dates he claims to have been in police custody. Singh attributed Dr. Kakkar's use of the word "admitted" to "mistake."

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Singh also submitted a letter from Amritsar's leader attesting to Singh's party membership. The letter is signed and notarized March 2009—16 months before Singh claims he came to the United States—yet lists Singh's Ohio address on the first page. Singh offered shifting explanations when asked to account for this discrepancy. He first claimed that Amritsar provided a letter with a blank address and sent an updated first page once he moved to Ohio. He later testified that the original letter included his Indian address, which he updated upon arriving in the United States.

Finally, Singh submitted letters from friends and family that purportedly corroborate his membership in Amritsar and the beatings he suffered in police custody. As the IJ noted, most of the letters were notarized by the same notary on the same date and are "identical despite having different authors." And most "merely report third-hand information." Because of her concern about the "independent authorship of these letters," the IJ assigned them little evidentiary weight.

After considering Singh's testimony and supporting evidence, the IJ concluded that he "failed to meet his burden to prove eligibility for any of the forms of relief sought, as the only evidence he presented was his incredible testimony . . . and weak documentary evidence." The BIA affirmed in a brief order substantially adopting the IJ's reasoning. Singh petitions for review.

II.

"Where the [BIA] adopts the IJ's decision and supplements that decision with its own comments, as in this case, we review both the BIA's and the IJ's opinions." Hachem v. Holder, 656 F.3d 430, 434 (6th Cir. 2011) (citing Gilaj v. Gonzales, 408 F.3d 275, 283 (6th Cir. 2005) (per curiam)). In doing so, we review findings of fact, including adverse credibility determinations, under the substantial-evidence standard. Singh v. Ashcroft, 398 F.3d 396, 400,

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402 (6th Cir. 2005). Under this highly deferential standard, we will affirm the IJ's findings unless "the evidence not only supports a contrary conclusion, but indeed compels it." Hassan v. Holder, 604 F.3d 915, 925 (6th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation mark omitted) (quoting Mullai v. Ashcroft, 385 F.3d 635, 638 (6th Cir. 2004)).

III.

(A) Refugee Framework

Immigration law...