Singh v. Garland ( 2022 )


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  • Case: 21-60499     Document: 00516351120          Page: 1    Date Filed: 06/09/2022
    United States Court of Appeals
    for the Fifth Circuit                               United States Court of Appeals
    Fifth Circuit
    FILED
    June 9, 2022
    No. 21-60499
    Summary Calendar                         Lyle W. Cayce
    Clerk
    Gurkirat Singh,
    Petitioner,
    versus
    Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General,
    Respondent.
    Petition for Review of an Order of the
    Board of Immigration Appeals
    BIA No. A203 676 290
    Before Wiener, Dennis, and Haynes, Circuit Judges.
    Per Curiam:*
    Gurkirat Singh, a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of a
    decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissing his appeal
    from a decision of the immigration judge (IJ) denying his applications for
    asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against
    *
    Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
    opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
    circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
    Case: 21-60499      Document: 00516351120            Page: 2    Date Filed: 06/09/2022
    No. 21-60499
    Torture (CAT). The BIA affirmed the IJ’s adverse credibility determination.
    The IJ specifically found that Singh was not credible regarding various
    assertions he made with respect to his claim that he was attacked because he
    converted to Christianity.
    Singh contends that the IJ erred by excluding from the record various
    exhibits that were not timely filed and by using one of those excluded exhibits
    as a basis for the adverse-credibility determination. Because Singh did not
    raise these arguments in his appeal to the BIA and raises them for the first
    time in his petition, we lack jurisdiction to consider them. See 
    8 U.S.C. § 1252
    (d)(1); Martinez-Guevara v. Garland, 
    27 F. 4th 353
    , 360 (5th Cir.
    2022); Omari v. Holder, 
    562 F.3d 314
    , 320-21 (5th Cir. 2009). We also lack
    jurisdiction to consider his arguments that the IJ violated his due process
    rights, because those arguments—also raised for the first time in his
    petition—implicate procedural errors correctable by the BIA.           See Roy
    v. Ashcroft, 
    389 F.3d 132
    , 137 (5th Cir. 2004).
    As he did in his appeal to the BIA, Singh challenges the BIA’s
    credibility determination, raising various arguments addressing the
    inconsistencies identified by the IJ. However, the IJ and the BIA cited
    “specific and cogent reasons derived from the record” to support the adverse
    credibility determination. Singh v. Sessions, 
    880 F.3d 220
    , 225 (5th Cir. 2018)
    (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).            Singh has failed to
    demonstrate that it is clear from the totality of the circumstances that no
    reasonable factfinder could make an adverse credibility ruling in his case. See
    Wang v. Holder, 
    569 F.3d 531
    , 538-40 (5th Cir. 2009). Without credible
    evidence, there was no basis for the BIA to grant asylum or withholding of
    removal. See Chun v. INS, 
    40 F.3d 76
    , 79 (5th Cir. 1994).
    Further, the record does not compel a conclusion different from the
    BIA’s determination that the objective evidence of record did not establish a
    2
    Case: 21-60499     Document: 00516351120          Page: 3   Date Filed: 06/09/2022
    No. 21-60499
    likelihood that Singh would be tortured by or with the acquiescence of the
    government. See Arulnanthy v. Garland, 
    17 F.4th 586
    , 597-98 (5th Cir. 2021).
    Accordingly, the petition for review is DENIED IN PART and
    DISMISSED IN PART for lack of jurisdiction.
    3