Court Opinion

ID: 9891492
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-18 19:00:46.116578+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:47:07.064330
License: Public Domain

FILED
                            NOT FOR PUBLICATION
                                                                            OCT 18 2023
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                       MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                          U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

                            FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

SURJIT SINGH                                     No.   22-1454

              Petitioner,                        Agency No. A095-592-019

 v.

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney                     MEMORANDUM*
General,

              Respondent.

                     On Petition for Review of an Order of the
                         Board of Immigration Appeals

                            Submitted October 16, 2023**
                                 Phoenix, Arizona

Before: IKUTA, BADE, BRESS, Circuit Judges.

      Surjit Singh seeks review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals

(BIA) denying his motion to reopen his removal proceedings. We have

      *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
      **
             The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1), see Wenqin Sun v. Mukasey, 555 F.3d

802, 805 (9th Cir. 2009), and deny the petition for review.

      The BIA did not abuse its discretion in determining that Singh’s motion to

reopen was untimely and that Singh failed to show that an exception applied due to

changed country conditions in India. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii). Singh

failed to establish a material change in country conditions because the new

evidence that Singh submitted with his motion does not show that the current risk

of harm toward persons who, like Singh, are engaged in low-level political

activities, is qualitatively different from the risk of harms that such individuals

faced at the time of Singh’s initial proceedings. Therefore, Singh has failed to

establish a material change in country conditions. See Hernandez-Ortiz v.

Garland, 32 F.4th 794, 805 (9th Cir. 2022); Agonafer v. Sessions, 859 F.3d 1198,

1204 (9th Cir. 2017). The evidence Singh presents of his changed personal

circumstances does not establish the materiality of the changed country conditions

and is insufficient on its own to satisfy the changed country conditions exception.

See Rodriguez v. Garland, 990 F.3d 1205, 1210–11 (9th Cir. 2021). In the absence

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of an exception to the 90-day time limit for filing a motion to reopen, the BIA did

not err in denying Singh’s motion to reopen as untimely.1

      PETITION DENIED.

      1
         Because we deny the petition based on the BIA’s determination that Singh
failed to establish a material change in country conditions and therefore his motion
to reopen was untimely, we do not address Singh’s challenge to the BIA’s
determination that Singh failed to establish prima facie eligibility for asylum. See
Toufighi v. Mukasey, 538 F.3d 988, 996 (9th Cir. 2008). The BIA did not violate
Singh’s right to due process by failing to address whether Singh established prima
facie eligibility for asylum, because the BIA expressly addressed that claim.
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