Singh

MEMORANDUM

Kapur Singh, a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence, Singh v. Gonzales, 439 F.3d 1100, 1105 (9th Cir.2006), we grant the petition for review, and we remand this matter to the BIA for further consideration.

The BIA found that Singh had established past persecution on account of his political opinion. The government therefore bore the burden to rebut the presumption that Singh was eligible for asylum. Rios v. Ashcroft, 287 F.3d 895, 900 (9th Cir.2002).

One way the government may satisfy this burden is by showing by a preponderance of the evidence that there has been a “fundamental change in circumstances,” such that the applicant no longer has a well-founded fear of persecution, or that the “applicant could avoid future persecution by relocating to another part of the applicant’s country of nationality or, if stateless, another part…