Court Opinion

ID: 9474726
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:07:13.385489+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:18.145062
License: Public Domain

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge
(specially concurring):
I agree that the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying refugee status to McMullen, and that McMullen’s conduct before entering the United States renders him ineligible for mandatory withholding of deportation. I disagree with the majority’s reliance upon § 1253(h)(2)(C) to show his ineligibility. Section 1253(h)(2)(C) envisions a showing of the alien’s personal culpability for the serious nonpolitical crime allegedly committed. The majority attributes to McMullen responsibility for the acts of other PIRA members during the period of his membership. Because none of the acts allegedly committed by McMullen can properly be cast as nonpolitical, the reliance upon § 1253(h)(2)(C) is misplaced.
The BIA, however, relied in the alternative upon § 1253(h)(2)(A) to deny McMullen § 1253(h)(l)’s protection. Section 1253(h)(2)(A) creates an exception to the mandatory withholding of deportation when the Attorney General determines that “the alien ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” McMullen admits to having illegally imported arms for PIRA use, and to having trained its members. The BIA found that the PIRA killed or attempted to kill those who publicly opposed their activities. McMullen’s admitted role in PIRA operations, though only tangentially related to such attacks, amounts to the assistance of this persecution on account of political opinion. I stress that it is the attacks aimed at suppressing the political debate and not the sometimes random attacks on civilians that lead to this conclusion. This circuit has expressly declined to distinguish civilian from military targets in defining a political crime. See Quinn v. Robinson, 783 F.2d 776 (9th Cir.1986). Although Quinn arose in the extradition context, its reasoning applies with equal force in this deportation case. The majority’s attempt to distinguish deportation from extradition for the purpose of defining political offenses amounts to no more than a distinction without a difference. I would deny the petition solely on the ground that the BIA properly invoked § 1253(h)(2)(A).