The Eighth Circuit has reversed a finding that there is a serious reason to believe that a petitioner committed a serious nonpolitical crime outside the United States. In so doing, the court concluded that the “serious reasons for believing” standard requires a finding of probable cause before an alien can be subject to the mandatory bar.
“The statutory framework and relevant case law direct us to require something more than “some evidence” in order to meet the probable cause standard in cases involving “serious reasons for believing” that a serious nonpolitical crime was committed. The parties did not cite, and we could not find, a case in which a court has found a Red Notice, alone, is sufficient to meet this standard. Also complicating the analysis in this case is whether or not the charges giving rise to the Red Notice had been dismissed. Barahona submitted evidence that the charges had been dismissed. DHS did not refute and did not ask for additional time to resolve whether this was accurate. The BIA erred in this case when it failed to make a probable cause finding, particularly in light of the dispute regarding the underlying criminal charges that gave rise to the Red Notice.”
The full text of Barahona v. Wilkinson can be found here:
https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/21/02/201546P.pdf
An amended version of the opinion can be found here: