Ranjit John Singh Chand Kumari, A/K/A Chand Kumari Singh Renika Singh v. Immigration and Naturalization Service
Opinion
Opinion
Pregerson, J.
Ranjit John Singh petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) denial of his application for asylum and withholding of deportation under Sections 208(a) and 243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the “Act”), 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158 (a), 1253(h). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), and we grant the petition for review.
I
Ranjit John Singh, his wife Chand Kumari Singh, and daughter Renika Singh, are ethnic Indian citizens (“Indo-Fijians”) of Fiji. They were admitted to the United States as visitors on May 6, 1989, with permission to remain until November 5,1989. On June 29, 1989, they applied for asylum with the District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) in San Francisco. The Asylum Office denied the application and issued an Order to Show Cause why they should not be deported.
On July 18, 1991, the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) found Singh and his family to be de-portable as charged and denied their application for asylum and withholding of deportation but granted them voluntary departure. The IJ stated that what Singh and his family suffered in Fiji was harassment and discrimination that did not amount to persecution…