Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Aguirre-Aguirre

We granted certiorari to consider the analysis employed by the Court of Appeals in setting aside a determination of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The BIA ruled that respondent, a native and citizen of Guatemala, was not entitled to withholding of deportation based on his expressed fear of persecution for earlier political activities in Guatemala. The issue in the case is not whether the persecution is likely to occur, but whether, even assuming it is, respondent is ineligible for withholding because he "committed a serious nonpolitical crime" before his entry into the United States. 8 U. S. C. §1253(h)(2)(C). The beginning point for the BIAs analysis was its determination that respondent, to protest certain governmental policies in Guatemala, had burned buses, assaulted passengers, and vandalized and destroyed property in private shops, after forcing customers out. These actions, the BIA concluded, were serious nonpolitical crimes. In reaching this Conclusion, it relied on a statutory interpretation adopted in one of its earlier decisions, Matter of McMullen, 19 I. & N. Dec. 90 (BIA 1984), affd, 788 F. 2d 591 (CA9 1986).