428
Opinion of the Court
claims such force, explaining that 'the determination of refugee status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol . . . is incumbent upon the Contracting State in whose territory the refugee finds himself.' " INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U. S., at 439, n. 22 (quoting U. N. Handbook ¶ (ii), at 1). See also 480 U. S., at 439, n. 22 ("We do not suggest, of course, that the explanation in the U. N. Handbook has the force of law or in any way binds the INS . . ."). For the reasons given, supra, at 425-426, we think the BIA's determination that § 1253(h)(2)(C) requires no additional balancing of the risk of persecution rests on a fair and permissible reading of the statute. See also T. v. Secretary of State for the Home Dept., 2 All E. R. 865, 882 (H. L. 1996) (Lord Mustill) ("[T]he crime either is or is not political when committed, and its character cannot depend on the consequences which the offender may afterwards suffer if he is returned").
B
Also relying on the U. N. Handbook, the Court of Appeals held that the BIA "should have considered whether the acts committed were 'grossly out of proportion to the alleged objective.' . . . The political nature of the offenses would be 'more difficult to accept' if they involved 'acts of an atrocious nature.' " 121 F. 3d, at 524 (quoting U. N. Handbook ¶ 152, at 36). The court further suggested that the BIA should have considered prior Circuit case law that "cast[s] light on what under the law are acts of [an] atrocious nature." 121 F. 3d, at 524. Citing its own opinion affirming the BIA's decision in Matter of McMullen, see McMullen v. INS, 788 F. 2d 591 (CA9 1986), the Court of Appeals stated that "[a] comparison of what the McMullen court found atrocious with the acts committed by Aguirre suggests a startling degree of difference." 121 F. 3d, at 524. It reasoned that while McMullen had involved "indiscriminate bombing, murder, torture, [and] the maiming of innocent civilians," respondent's "only acts against innocent Guatemalans were
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