# United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit

Chicago, Illinois 60604

Submitted January 27, 2021 *

Decided January 28, 2021

Before

MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge

MICHAEL B. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge

MICHAEL Y. SCUDDER, Circuit Judge

No. 20

‐ 1448

PARVINDER SINGH,

Petitioner

,

v

.

MONTY WILKINSON,

Acting Attorney General of the United

States,

Respondent

. Petition for Review of an Order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals.

No. A202

‐ 010

‐ 180

O R D E R

Parvinder Singh, an Indian citizen belonging to a Sikh

‐ dominated political party,

petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals denying his

motion to reopen his immigration proceedings based on changed country conditions—

namely, increased police efforts to target him for his past political activity. The Board

* We have agreed to decide this case without oral argument because the briefs and

record adequately present the facts and legal arguments, and oral argument would not

significantly aid the court. F ED

. R. A PP

. P. 34(a)(2)(C). We have substituted Monty

Wilkinson, the acting Attorney General, for the respondent. F ED

. R. A PP

. P. 43(c). NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION

To be cited onl y in accordance with Fed. R. A pp

. P. 32.1No. 20

‐ 1448 Page 2

denied Singh’s motion to reopen because he failed to show a material change in country

conditions sufficient to warrant reopening. We deny the petition for review.

The prior proceedings are summarized in our decision, Singh v. Barr

, 770 F.

App ʹ x 758 (7th Cir. 2019), but we highli ght key details here. Singh belonged to a faction

of Shiromani Akali Dal—a Sikh

‐ dominated political party that advocates the creation of

an independent nation in what is now the Indian state of Punjab. Singh’s faction,

Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), also known as the Mann faction, was at odds with the

dominant Badal faction in power in Punjab. Singh testif ied to three incidents from 2011

to 2014 when he was attacked either by police or adherents of the Badal faction while

participating in political activities. After leaving India and making his way to the

United States, he was detained by border security guards in Arizona. The Department

of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings, and Singh applied for asylum and

withholding of removal based on the harm he feared in India by the Badal faction and

the Indian government. He also sought protection under the United Nations

Convention Against Torture.

The immigration judge denied all forms of relief, concluding that Singh was

insufficiently credible, that his injuries did not amount to persecution, and that he could

safely relocate within India if he returned. The BIA upheld that determination, and we

denied his petition for review. Id

.

Three months later, Singh moved to reopen his proceedings based on new

evidence and changed country circumstances in India. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(1)

(restricting proceedings to evidence that “could not have been discovered or presented

at the former hearing”). He also sought a stay of removal. He maintained that Indian

police falsely identified him as a terrorist affiliated with the Khalistani, another Sikh

separatist group; raided his home in India looking for him; beat and administered

electric shocks to his father; and told his family that they would be tortured if they did

not turn him in. Singh supplemented his motion with his own affidavit and affidavits

from a “cou sin brother” and a village resident—all of which recounted these events and

warned that violence would befall Singh if he returned to India. Singh also offered

further detail on his role in the Mann faction, explaining that he helped with events and

put up political posters. In addition to these affidavits, Singh also submitted news

reports, which detailed law enforcement’s efforts against a different Sikh group (Sikhs

for Justice), and the State Department’s 2018 human rights report for India. See U.S.

D EP ’ T OF S TATE

, B UREAU OF D EMOCRACY

, H UMAN R IGHTS AND L ABOR

, 2018 C OUNTRYNo. 20

‐ 1448 Page 3

R EPORTS ON H UMAN R IGHTS P RACTICES : I NDIA (2018),

https://www.state.gov/reports/2018

‐ country

‐ reports

‐ on

‐ human

‐ rights

‐ practices/india/.

The Board denied the motion. Noting that in its prior decision it had upheld the

IJ’s adverse

‐ credibility determination, the Board was “not persuaded” that Singh’s

evidence was previously unavailable, material, or probative of any past or future

persecution. The affidavits (and other evidence), the Board stated, did “not re habilitate

[his] incredible testimony”—testimony that doomed his underlying claims—and

otherwise were insufficient to establish a material change in conditions, let alone call

into question the IJ’s prior determination that he could relocate elsewhere within India.

Because Singh moved to reopen proceedings more than 90 days after his removal

order issued, he had to show changed conditions in India, the country to which he was

ordered removed. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(A), (C); 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(3)(ii); see Yahya v.

Sessions

, 889 F.3d 392, 395 (7th Cir. 2018). Such evidence must be material, previously

unavailable, and sufficient to establish his prima facie eligibility for the underlying

relief sought. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii); see Yahya

, 889 F.3d at 395; Joseph v. Holder

,

579 F.3d 827, 833–34 (7th Cir. 2009).

In his petition, Singh first argues that the Board glossed over his new evidence

and failed to justify its determination that he had not shown changed circumstances.

In his view, his personal circumstances have changed significantly. He again points to

the affidavits of the village resident and his “cousin brother”—evidence that, he says,

corroborates his account of events and speaks to the continuing efforts of the Indian

police to hunt for him, intimidate him, and torture him for his political views.

The Board did not abuse its discretion in rejecting this argument. We

acknowledge that the Board’s engagement with Singh’s affidavits was cursory and

conclusory: The Board did not explain, for instance, why the affidavits were insufficient

to independently establish a claim or rehabilitate his discredited testimony. See, e.g.

, Boika v. Holder

, 727 F.3d 735, 743 (7th Cir. 2013) (noting that the Board need not “forget

the prior credibility finding” but granting the petition for review where the Board failed

“to engage with the new evidence”). But the Board did su pport its determination with

one appropriate basis—Singh failed to present sufficient evidence of materially changed

conditions to establish that he could not internally relocate. See Dieng v. Barr

, 947 F.3d

956, 961–63 (6th Cir. 2020) (upholding denial of motion to reopen where new evidence

did not “overcome” determination that petitioner could internally relocate). One basis

for the Board’s original denial of relief was the fact that Singh already had twiceNo. 20

‐ 1448 Page 4

relocated safely within India, and it was reasonable to expect him to do so again. Singh

,

770 F. App’x at 760. The agency raised that point again before the Board when opposing

the motion to reopen, and none of Singh’s submissions suggests that the police are

looking for him outside his village in Punjab.

Singh also argues more generally that the Indian government has “escalated” its

“persecution” of Sikh nationalists, as reflected in the Indian news reports he proffered

and the 2018 U.S. Department of State’s Human Rights Report on India. But this

proposed new evidence, too, does not contradict the evidence on which the Board

originally re lied in concluding that he could relocate. Because the new evidence would

not change the result, Gamero v. Barr

, 929 F.3d 464, 471–72 (7th Cir. 2019), the Board did

not abuse its discretion in denying his motion to reopen.

We have considered Singh’s remaining arguments, and none has merit.

The petition for review is therefore DENIED.