WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2020) The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that non-US citizen Nidal Khalid Nasrallah should not be deported to Lebanon after he pled guilty to receiving stolen property, rejecting a US government process to expel him from the United States after he applied citing the Convention Against Torture (CAT) for protection.
"[C]ourts can review an immigrant's factual challenge to a denial of their application to stay deportation under the Convention Against Torture," the Supreme Court ruling said in a seven to two decision.
The US government sought to remove petitioner Nasrallah after he pled guilty to receiving stolen property, but he applied for CAT relief to prevent his removal to Lebanon.
The Supreme Court noted that an Immigration Judge ordered Nasrallah removed and granted CAT relief, but on appeal, the board of Immigration Appeals vacated the CAT relief order.
Nasrallah had claimed that he would be tortured in his home country of Lebanon by the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia) or by Hezbollah if he was deported, the Supreme Court said.
The decision overturned a February 2019 ruling by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, said courts lacked jurisdiction to review the factual basis for immigrants' claims they faced the danger of torture if returned to their countries of origin.
