Singh

I. BACKGROUND

Balbir Singh entered the United States in 1992. Three years later, he married Lidia Medina, a U.S. citizen, and so was able to adjust his status to become a conditional permanent resi- dent. To remove the conditional status, Singh and Medina were required to file a joint petition before the second anni- versary of Singh’s obtaining lawful status. See Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) § 216(c)(1)(A), (d)(2)(A), 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(c)(1)(A), (d)(2)(A). Such a petition must state that the marriage is proper and was not entered into for immi- gration purposes. INA § 216(d)(1)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(d)(1)(A)(i).

Singh and Medina timely filed a joint petition. They appeared for an interview before an Immigration Service offi- cer on August 12, 1998. At the interview, however, Medina signed a sworn statement declaring the couple had married for the sole purpose of obtaining immigration benefits and with- drew her signature from the joint petition. The next day, the INS served Singh with a Notice to Appear, charging that he was removable under INA § 237(a)(1)(D)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(D)(i), because his conditional permanent resi- dent status had been terminated.1…