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INS v. DOHERTY Opinion of Rehnquist, C. J.

held; the court found him guilty in absentia of murder and related charges and sentenced him to life imprisonment. In 1982, respondent surreptitiously entered the United States under an alias. In June 1983, he was located by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which thereupon began deportation proceedings against him. Respondent applied for asylum under § 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as added by the Refugee Act of 1980, 94 Stat. 105, 8 U. S. C. § 1158.1 The immigration proceedings were suspended to allow completion of extradition proceedings, which were initiated by the United States at the request of the United Kingdom. In December 1984, United States District Judge Sprizzo, acting as an Extradition Magistrate under 18 U. S. C. § 3184, held that respondent was not extraditable because his crimes fell into the political offenses exception to the extradition treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom. In re Requested Extradition of Doherty, 599 F. Supp. 270, 272 (SDNY 1984). The attempts of the United States to attack this conclusion collaterally were rebuffed. United States v. Doherty, 615 F. Supp. 755 (SDNY 1985), aff ’d, 786 F. 2d 491 (CA2 1986).2 1

Section 208 of the Immigration Act, 8 U. S. C. § 1158(a) provides, in pertinent part: “The Attorney General shall establish a procedure for an alien physically present in the United States. . . to apply for asylum, and the alien may be granted asylum in the discretion of the Attorney General if the Attorney General determines that such alien is a refugee. . . .” The term “refugee” is defined by 8 U. S. C. § 1101(a)(42)(A) as “any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality. . . and who is unable or unwilling to return to. . . that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. . . .” 2 Respondent, who has been confined since his arrest by the INS, has also twice unsuccessfully filed for habeas corpus relief. Doherty v. Meese, 808 F. 2d 938 (CA2 1986); Doherty v. Thornburgh, 943 F. 2d 204 (CA2 1991).