Date: 06-12-2025

Case Style:

Dharwinder Singh v. Pamela Bondi

Case Number: A 099 475 946

Judge: Menashi

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Plaintiff's Attorney: Jatinder Grewal and Ana Ahmed

Defendant's Attorney: Brian Boyton

Description: New York City, New York immigration lawyers represented the Plaintiff seeking review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals which denied his application for asylum.

On December 31, 2013, Singh entered the United States near San Luis, Arizona, without valid entry documents and was placed in removal proceedings. On December 23, 2014, Singh applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief, claiming that he had suffered past persecution in India on account of his political opinion.

Shortly after being apprehended near the Mexico border, a border patrol agent interviewed Singh at the Yuma Border Patrol Station. Singh provided a detailed account of his eight-month journey to the United States. He stated that he left his village “on April 21, 2013,” and traveled to New Delhi, where he met a man named6 “Jagdeep Kumar” who arranged for Singh’s travel to the United States. Cert. Admin. R. 105. He stayed with Kumar for one week before flying to Dubai, where a man named “Boss” took him to a hotel. Singh stayed in Dubai for fifteen to twenty days before flying to Managua, Nicaragua, where a man named “Eleven” sheltered Singh in his home for three months. From Nicaragua, Singh flew to Guatemala, where he joined three Chinese men who accompanied him to Mexico. Singh traveled by bus and by car through Mexico until he arrived at a house near the border. He stayed in the house for twenty days before he walked across the border into Arizona.

In December 2014, Singh filed his application for asylum. In his personal statement, he provided a different account of how he reached the United States. Singh wrote that “[i]n December 2013 I left India with the help of an agent. On December 31, 2013 I entered the United States without proper inspection.” Id. at 507.1

At his hearing before the IJ in July 2018, Singh also provided an account of his journey to the United States that differed from his border interview. Singh testified that he left India in December 2013 and arrived in the United States later that month. See Cert. Admin. R. 69-70. He testified that he flew from Delhi to “Holland,” where he
“[s]tayed on the aircraft” before continuing to Cuba. Id. at 87-90. He remained in Cuba for “a little bit more than ten days” before traveling to Mexico, where he remained for “[f]ourteen, fifteen days.” Id. at 90.

Singh testified about why he left India. He said that he has been a member of the Akali Dal Mann party since June 2011. In India, the Akali Dal Mann party advocates for a separate Sikh state. Singh was an active member of the party and attended meetings, rallies, and demonstrations.

In his testimony, Singh claimed that he was attacked by members of the rival Akali Dal Badal party on two occasions. The first attack occurred in August 2013. Members of the Akali Dal Badal party drove up in a car and pulled Singh from his motorcycle. The rival party members beat Singh with “wooden sticks” and “told [him] to leave Akali Dal Mann party and join Akali Dal Badal party.” Id. at 506.

Singh claimed that “[t]hey threatened me [that] if I continue my activities with Akali Dal Mann party they will kill me or will kill me by police in [a] fake encounter.” Id. Singh attempted to report the assault to the police, but the police accused him of fabricating the incident. See id. at 76.2 Singh sustained “internal injuries and some scratches on the ... legs,” and a doctor treated him with “tablets,” an “injection,” and “ointment on the body.” Cert. Admin. R. 75.

The second attack purportedly occurred in November 2013 when Singh was “coming back from the fields.” Id. at 77. A group of approximately ten people approached him and beat him with “hockey sticks and baseball sticks” and told him to “[l]eave Akali Dal Mann party and join Akali Dal Badal party.” Id. According to Singh, the group “took out oil from one of the vehicle[s] and they pour[ed] it on my body” and “tried to burn me up,” but the group dispersed before doing so because witnesses were present. Id. The attackers told Singh that “if you don’t stop working at … Akali Dal Mann party and … join Badal party we will burn you alive.” Id. Singh testified that he treated his injuries at home but “policemen came to my house … and took me to the police station,” where the policemen “started torturing me physical[ly] and mentally.” Id. at 77-79. 3 Singh said that the policemen released him the next day when his “father bribed them for one hundred thousand rupees.” Cert. Admin. R. 80.

Outcome: Petition for review denied.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: