Court Opinion

ID: 9409362
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-17 21:00:50.605117+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:50.091663
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                          JUL 17 2023
                                                                     MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

BALDEV SINGH MANHANI,                           No. 22-843
                                                Agency No.
             Petitioner,                        A097-545-859
 v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,

             Respondent.

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

                            Submitted July 13, 2023**
                              Seattle, Washington

Before: GRABER, GOULD, and PAEZ, Circuit Judges.

      Petitioner Baldev Singh Manhani timely seeks review of the Board of

Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) denial of his motion to reopen immigration

proceedings. Reviewing for abuse of discretion, Hernandez-Ortiz v. Garland,

32 F.4th 794, 800 (9th Cir. 2022), we deny the petition.

      The BIA acted within its discretion in concluding that Petitioner failed to

      *
            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).
show changed country conditions that would excuse the untimeliness of the

motion to reopen. 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(3)(ii). The BIA permissibly concluded

that the evidence in the record “does not reveal that conditions have materially

changed or worsened” for Sikhs in India since the time of Petitioner’s 2016

removal hearing. For example, the 2019 country report neither mentions nor

suggests deterioration of conditions for Sikhs in India. Some of the other

evidence, which describes poor conditions for Sikhs, concerns the years 2013–

2015 and thus fails to support Petitioner’s assertion that conditions have

worsened since 2016. The BIA was not compelled to conclude that conditions

have worsened solely because of a single article’s assertion that “violence

against Sikhs appears to be increasing.” See Hernandez-Ortiz, 32 F.4th at 800

(holding that, when reviewing for abuse of discretion, “we must uphold the

agency’s decision unless it is arbitrary, irrational, or contrary to law” (citation

and internal quotation marks omitted)).

      PETITION DENIED.

                                          2                                     22-843