DOJ Operating on Dual Tracks When It Comes to Criminal Aliens and Mental Health
Congress should clarify the particularly serious crime bar, but the AG and SCOTUS must act cautiously
By Andrew R. Arthur on January 18, 2022
As I reported in December, Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland will review “[w]hether mental health may be considered when determining whether an ”alien has been convicted of a “particularly serious crime”, barring the alien from asylum, statutory withholding, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The Supreme Court may also consider this issue, though you wouldn’t know it from a recent DOJ filing. Both the AG and the Court should, however, move cautiously in upsetting current law.
The Particularly Serious Crime Bar to Asylum, Statutory Withholding, and CAT. Asylum, statutory withholding, and CAT are all forms of protection available to aliens facing removal from the United States. Many aliens — including certain criminals — are barred from receiving those protections, however.
For example, section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which governs asylum, contains various bars that prevent the AG (and his delegates, immigration judges (IJs) and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) members) from granting such protection.
https://cis.org/Arthur/DOJ-Operating-Dual-Tracks-When-It-Comes-Criminal-Aliens-and-Mental-Health
