Singh

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Singh entered the United States on or about March 13, 1998 as an inadmissible alien without a valid visa. The Immi- gration and Naturalization Service (INS) charged Singh with being removable under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(A) as an alien who lacked a valid entry document. On June 15, 1998, Singh filed an application for asylum and withholding of removal, alleging past persecution on account of his Sikh religion and unfounded suspicions by the Indian police that he was con- nected with a known terrorist, Rham Singh (“Rham”).

At his merits hearing on November 20, 1998, Singh was represented by Viney Gupta (“Gupta”), who claimed that he 7594 SINGH v. GONZALES “came on this case” a week prior to the hearing. Gupta requested a continuance to obtain supporting documents for the asylum application. The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) admon- ished Gupta for being unprepared for the hearing, but never- theless granted the continuance to April 16, 1999. At the April hearing, Gupta submitted supporting documents with incom- plete translations that lacked authentication. The IJ refused to admit the documents. After the testimony of Singh and…