Karamjit Singh v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM **

Karamjit Singh; his wife, Sukhbir Kaur; and their son, Abhay Jeet Singh 1 , natives and citizens of India, seek review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming an Immigration Judge’s (“U”) denial of Singh’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review factual findings for substantial evidence, Zhi v. Holder, 751 F.3d 1088, 1091 (9th Cir.2014). Substantial evidence does not support the BIA’s and IJ’s adverse credibility determinations. We therefore grant the petition for review.

Singh testified that he was arrested three times in India because of his membership in the Khalra Mission Committee, a human rights organization that advocated a separate Sikh nation of Khalistan.

The BIA rejected the IJ’s reliance on Petitioner’s demeanor as a basis for the adverse credibility determination, but accepted five of the IJ’s credibility reasons for denying Petitioner’s applications. We address each ground below.

1. Whether Petitioner was hung upside down during his first arrest. Even the government agrees that this portion of the…

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent because I find the BIA’s adverse credibility finding to be supported by substantial evidence.

The BIA provided five reasons in support of its adverse credibility finding: (1) inconsistencies in Petitioner’s testimony regarding whether he was hung upside down during the first arrest, (2) inconsistencies in Petitioner’s testimony regarding whether his son was present at the second arrest, (3) inconsistencies in Petitioner’s testimony regarding the time of day of his first and third arrests, (4) inconsistencies in Petitioner’s testimony regarding whether his mother can sign her name, and (5) the suspiciousness of the hospitalization records corroborating Petitioner’s testimony.

While some of these reasons, standing alone, might be insufficient to justify an adverse credibility finding, others are sound and together are persuasive. In particular, Singh’s inconsistent testimony *876 regarding whether he was hung upside down during his first arrest and whether his son was present during his second arrest constitutes substantial evidence that Singh lacks credibility. The presence of one’s child at the scene of one’s arrest is not a detail that is…

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS SEP 24 2015

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

KARAMJIT SINGH; SUKHBIR KAUR; No. 12-71323

ABHAY JEET SINGH,

Agency Nos. A89-299-575 Petitioners, A89-299-576

A89-299-577

v.

LORETTA E. LYNCH,* Attorney MEMORANDUM** General,

Respondent.

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals

Argued and Submitted August 13, 2015 San Francisco, California

Before: REINHARDT, TASHIMA, and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges.

Karamjit Singh; his wife, Sukhbir Kaur; and their son, Abhay Jeet Singh1,

natives and citizens of India, seek review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’

* Loretta E. Lynch is substituted for her predecessor, Eric H. Holder, Jr., as Attorney General of the United States, pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2). ** This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. 1 The latter two are derivative petitioners to Karamjit Singh. (“BIA”)…