Singh v. Barr, No. 15-73940 (9th Cir. 2019)
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The Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review of the BIA's denial of petitioner's application for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (CAT) based on his imputed political opinion and whistleblowing activities exposing police corruption.
The panel rejected petitioner's broad challenge to Matter of N–M–, arguing that it misconstrues the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Rather, the panel held that the three factor test in N–M– was consistent with the whistleblowing cases in this circuit and the BIA's interpretation was not unreasonable. In this case, the panel held that petitioner's asylum claim failed because the record did not support his claim that police officers persecuted him on account of his imputed political opinion. Although the BIA erroneously applied the "one central reason" nexus standard rather than the "a reason" standard, the panel need not remand because the BIA adopted the IJ's finding of no nexus between the harm and the alleged protected ground and thus neither the result nor the BIA's basic reasoning would change.
Court Description: Immigration. The panel denied a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture protection to Daya Singh, a citizen of India who asserted claims for relief based on his imputed political opinion and whistleblowing activities exposing police corruption. Singh challenged the Board’s precedential opinion in Matter of N–M–, 25 I. & N. Dec. 526 (BIA 2011), setting forth a three-factor standard for determining whether retaliation for opposition to official corruption or whistleblowing constitutes persecution on account of a political opinion. Under that test, the immigration judge considers: (1) “whether and to what extent the alien engaged in activities that could be perceived as expressions of anticorruption beliefs,” (2) “any direct or circumstantial evidence that the alleged persecutor was motivated by the alien’s perceived or actual anticorruption beliefs,” and (3) “evidence regarding the pervasiveness of government corruption, as well as whether there are direct ties between the corrupt elements and higher level officials.” The panel explained that because Matter of N—M’s three factors correspond to this circuit’s whistleblowing cases, it could not say that the Board’s interpretation was unreasonable. SINGH V. BARR 3 The panel held that the record did not compel the conclusion that police officers persecuted Singh on account of his imputed political opinion. The panel concluded that Singh’s asylum claim therefore fails. The panel agreed with Singh that contrary to Barajas-Romero v. Lynch, 846 F.3d 351 (9th Cir. 2017), the Board erroneously applied the “one central reason” nexus standard, rather than the “a reason” standard, to Singh’s withholding of removal claim. However, the panel concluded that it need not remand the case, because the Board adopted the immigration judge’s finding of no nexus between the harm to Singh and the alleged protected ground, and thus neither the result nor the Board’s basic reasoning would change. The panel also held that substantial evidence supported the Board’s determination that Singh failed to establish that it was more likely than not that he would be tortured if he returned to India.
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