United States Ninth Circuit

A petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) determination that petitioner provided material support to a Tier III terrorist organization and was thus ineligible for immigration relief other than deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture, is denied, where: 1) the statutory terrorism bar applies retroactively to petitioner's material support of a Tier III organization, the Mojahedi-e Khalq (MEK), even though his activities with MEK in the 1970s were before it was officially designated as a terrorist group; 2) substantial evidence supported the BIA's determination that MEK was a terrorist organization in the 1970s; and 3) petitioner provided material support to MEK during the 1970s and he failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that he did not know, or should not reasonably have known, that MEK was a terrorist organization during that time frame.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/07/2014
• Published 07/07/2014

Judges

• GOULD

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel