Singh v. Holder

12-912 Singh v. Holder BIA Morace, IJ A088 017 706 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL. 1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United 3 States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, 4 on the 2nd day of April, two thousand thirteen. 5 6 PRESENT: 7 GUIDO CALABRESI, 8 JOSÉ A. CABRANES, 9 RICHARD C. WESLEY, 10 Circuit Judges. 11 _____________________________________ 12 13 Juzar Singh, 14 Petitioner, 15 16 v. 12-912 17 NAC 18 ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., UNITED STATES 19 ATTORNEY GENERAL, 20 Respondent. 21 _____________________________________ 22 23 FOR PETITIONER: Amy Nussbaum Gell, New York, New 24 York. 25 26 FOR RESPONDENT: Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant 27 Attorney General; Jennifer Paisner- 28 Williams, Senior Litigation Counsel; 29 Jesse M. Bless, Trial Attorney, 1 Office of Immigration Litigation, 2 United States Department of Justice, 3 Washington, D.C. 4 5 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION of this petition for review of a 6 Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision, it is hereby 7 ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the petition for review 8 is DENIED. 9 Juzar Singh, a native and citizen of India, seeks 10 review of a February 8, 2012, decision of the BIA affirming 11 the July 13, 2010, decision of Immigration Judge (“IJ”) 12 Philip L. Morace, denying his application for asylum, 13 withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention 14 Against Torture (“CAT”). In re Juzar Singh, No. A088 017 15 706 (B.I.A. Feb. 8, 2012), aff’g No. A088 017 706 (Immig. 16 Ct. N.Y. City July 13, 2010). We assume the parties’ 17 familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history 18 in this case. 19 Under the circumstances of this case, we have reviewed 20 both the IJ’s and the BIA’s opinions “for the sake of 21 completeness.” Zaman v. Mukasey, 514 F.3d 233, 237 (2d Cir. 22 2008) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks omitted). The 23 applicable standards of review are well-established. See 24 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4); see also Xiu Xia Lin v. Mukasey, 534 2 1 F.3d 162, 165-66 (2d Cir. 2008) (per curiam). For asylum 2 applications governed by the REAL ID Act, such as the 3 application in this case, the agency may, considering the 4 totality of the circumstances, base a credibility finding on 5 an asylum applicant’s demeanor, the plausibility of his 6 account, and inconsistencies in his statements, without 7 regard to whether they go “to the heart of the applicant’s 8 claim.” 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii). Substantial 9 evidence supports the agency’s adverse credibility 10 determination and that determination formed an adequate 11 basis for denying relief. 12 In finding Singh not credible, the agency reasonably 13 relied on several discrepancies in the record. See Xiu Xia 14 Lin, 534 F.3d at 167. First, as the agency noted, Singh 15 initially told border crossing officials that he had come to 16 the United States to work, that he had never been arrested 17 in India, and that he had no reason to fear returning, yet 18 he subsequently applied for asylum, claiming past 19 persecution and a fear of future harm in India on account of 20 his religion and his political associations. As required, 21 the agency considered Singh’s explanation that he was afraid 22 during his initial encounter with immigration officials, see 3 1 Ramsameachire v. Ashcroft, 357 F.3d 169, 179 (2d Cir. 2004), 2 but nevertheless reasonably relied to some extent on this 3 discrepancy because the totality of the circumstances 4 demonstrated that Singh was not credible, particularly in 5 light of numerous other inconsistencies in the record. See 6 Xiu Xia Lin, 534 F.3d at 167. 7 As the agency noted, Singh’s testimony at trial 8 differed from the statements he made during his credible 9 fear interview with respect to the duration of his three 10 detentions, the harm suffered during each detention, and the 11 medical treatment received following the detentions. 12 Moreover, Singh’s credible fear interview bore the 13 “hallmarks of reliability,” see Zhang v. Holder, 585 F.3d 14 715, 725 (2d Cir. 2009), and a reasonable factfinder would 15 not be compelled to credit Singh’s explanations for these 16 inconsistencies. See Majidi v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 77, 80-81 17 (2d Cir. 2005). 18 Having questioned Singh’s credibility, the agency did 19 not err in finding that he failed to present sufficient 20 evidence to rehabilitate his testimony. Biao Yang v. 21 Gonzales, 496 F.3d 268, 273 (2d Cir. 2007) (per curiam). 22 Indeed, as the agency found, although Singh had over two 4 1 years to produce corroborating witnesses, he failed to do so 2 at the time of trial. Furthermore, the record does not 3 compellingly suggest that the IJ failed to adequately 4 consider any material evidence. See Xiao Ji Chen v. U.S. 5 Dep’t of Justice, 471 F.3d 315, 337 n.17 (2d Cir. 2006). 6 Ultimately, because a reasonable fact-finder would not 7 be compelled to conclude to the contrary, the agency’s 8 adverse credibility determination was supported by 9 substantial evidence. The adverse credibility determination 10 is dispositive of Singh’s claims for asylum, withholding of 11 removal, and CAT relief, as those claims were based on the 12 same factual predicate. See Paul v. Gonzales, 444 F.3d 148, 13 156 (2d Cir. 2006). 14 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is 15 DENIED. As we have completed our review, any stay of 16 removal that the Court previously granted in this petition 17 is VACATED, and any pending motion for a stay of removal in 18 this petition is DISMISSED as moot. Any pending request for 19 oral argument in this petition is DENIED in accordance with 20 Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34(a)(2), and Second 21 Circuit Local Rule 34.1(b). 22 FOR THE COURT: 23 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 5