Ninth Circuit on National Security Preclusion

The Ninth Circuit (Malkandi v. Holder), in an amended opinion filed on August 10 written by Judge McKeown (and joined by Judges Reinhardt and Tashima), has decided a case involving  an Iraqi asylum seeker in which the BIA concluded that he was ineligible for relief beccause the government had “reasonable grounds” to believe that he was “a threat to national security.”  This is a rarely-invoked preclusion and the Ninth Circuit’s treatment is likely to have a national impact.

KJ