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Deported To Die? Applying The Categorical Approach To The "Particularly Serious Crime" Bar, Fatma E. Marouf

Fatma E Marouf

A noncitizen who has been convicted of a “particularly serious crime” can be deported to a country where there is a greater than fifty percent chance of persecution or death. Yet the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has not provided a clear test for determining what is a “particularly serious crime.” The current test, which combines an examining of the elements of the crime with a fact-specific inquiry, has led to arbitrary and unpredictable decisions about what types of offense are “particularly serious.” This Article argues that the categorical approach for analyzing convictions should be applied to the particularly serious …