Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Stevic (467 U.S. 407)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 5, 1984 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 467 U.S. 407 · 104 S. Ct. 2489
- Decided
- June 5, 1984
- Term
- October Term 1983
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. For over 30 years the Attorney General has possessed statutory authority to withhold the deportation of an alien upon a finding that the alien would be subject to persecution in the country to which he would be deported. The question presented by this case is whether a deportable alien must demonstrate a clear probability of persecution in order to obtain such relief under § 243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 8 U. S. C. § 1253(h), as amended by § 203(e) of the Refugee Act of 1980, Pub. L. 96-212, 94 Stat. 107. pH Respondent, a Yugoslavian citizen, entered the United States in 1976 to visit his sister, then a permanent resident alien residing in Chicago. Petitioner, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), instituted deportation proceedings against respondent when he overstayed his 6-week period of admission. Respondent admitted that he was deport-able and agreed to depart voluntarily by February 1977. In January 1977, however, respondent married a United States citizen who obtained approval of a visa petition on his behalf. Shortly thereafter, respondent’s wife died in an automobile accident. The approval of respondent’s visa petition was automatically revoked, and petitioner ordered respondent to surrender for deportation to Yugoslavia. Respondent moved to reopen the deportation proceedings in…
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