Immigration Article of the Day: No Escape: How the Library of Congress Weaponized Internal Relocation Against Persecuted Sikhs and How to Fight Back by Josh Roth

No Escape: How the Library of Congress Weaponized Internal Relocation Against Persecuted Sikhs and How to Fight Back by Josh Roth, Cornell Law Student, 31 Berkeley Asian Am. L.J. __ (2024)

Abstract

Asylum is supposed to be a last resort. In its efforts to enforce it as such, the Department of Justice partnered with the Library of Congress in 2018 to draft a report claiming that Sikh asylees can safely relocate to other regions of India rather than resettle in the United States. Three years later, the Second Circuit affirmed a Sikh asylee’s denial of removal relief based on the Library of Congress report. In doing so, the Second Circuit effectively fortified a non-periodical government report that was problematic at the onset.

Many Sikhs fear for their well-being in India and have sought refuge in the United States. In 2018, the Library of Congress published a report claiming that instead of filing for asylum in the United States, Sikhs can safely relocate in India. This report was ubiquitously used in Sikh removal proceedings and reached the Second Circuit in 2021. In Singh v. Garland, which affirmed a Sikh asylee’s removal order based on the Library of Congress report. This case presents a novel issue of incorporating a non-periodical government-sponsored report into a broadly applicable decision.

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Part I of this Article discusses asylum law as applied to Sikhs and the issue of internal relocation. Part II discusses the Library of Congress report and summarizes its key points. Part III analyzes the Second Circuit’s decision in Singh v. Garland and subsequent Sikh asylum cases. Part IV proposes recommendations for overcoming the Library of Congress report and Singh in future removal proceedings.