Alaka: Only Aggravated Felonies Can Be A Particularly Serious Crimes

Alaka v. Gonzales
No. 05-1632
July 18, 2006
Precedential
http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/051632p.pdf

Withholding of removal is a mandatory form of relief that protects someone from being persecuted if returned to his or her home country. Congress passed a law saying someone cannot receive withholding of removal if he or she committed a particularly serious crime.

First, qualifying for withholding of removal is something the Third Circuit may review because it is a mandatory form of relief, not something in AG's discretion (which cannot be reviewed). This portion went into the Jilin Pharm and Soltane decisions about how a decision that does not explicitly state is in the AG's discretion and says "shall" be forthcoming after showing certain conditions is not in the AG's discretion enough to block federal court review.

Second, for something to be a particularly serious crime, it must at the very least be an aggravated felony based on the language of the statute.