Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/480

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INS v. DOHERTY Opinion of the Court

gible for withholding of deportation,5 as well as undeserving of the discretionary relief of asylum. Because we conclude that the Attorney General did not abuse his discretion in denying the motion to reopen either on the first or second of these grounds, we reverse the Court of Appeals’ decision, and need not reach the third ground for denial of reopening relied upon by the Attorney General. I This is the fifth case in the last decade in which we have dealt with the authority of the Attorney General and the BIA to deny a motion to reopen deportation proceedings. These cases establish several propositions. There is no statutory provision for reopening of a deportation proceeding, and the authority for such motions derives solely from regulations promulgated by the Attorney General. INS v. RiosPineda, 471 U. S. 444, 446 (1985). The regulation with which we deal here, 8 CFR § 3.2 (1987), is couched solely in negative terms; it requires that under certain circumstances a motion to reopen be denied, but does not specify the conditions under which it shall be granted: “Reopening or reconsideration. 5 Title 8 U. S. C. § 1253(h) provides in pertinent part: “Withholding of deportation or return “(1) The Attorney General shall not deport or return any alien. . . to a country if the Attorney General determines that such alien’s life or freedom would be threatened in such country on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. “(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any alien if the Attorney General determines that— “(A) the alien ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion; [or] . . . . . “(C) there are serious reasons for considering that the alien has committed a serious nonpolitical crime outside the United States prior to the arrival of the alien in the United States. . . .”