430
Opinion of the Court
ends, and whether atrocious acts are involved. Under this approach, atrocious acts provide a clear indication that an alien's offense is a serious nonpolitical crime. In the BIA's judgment, where an alien has sought to advance his agenda by atrocious means, the political aspect of his offense may not fairly be said to predominate over its criminal character. Commission of the acts, therefore, will result in a denial of withholding. The criminal element of an offense may outweigh its political aspect even if none of the acts are deemed atrocious, however. For this reason, the BIA need not give express consideration to the atrociousness of the alien's acts in every case before determining that an alien has committed a serious nonpolitical crime.
The BIA's approach is consistent with the statute, which does not equate every serious nonpolitical crime with atrocious acts. Cf. 8 U. S. C. § 1253(h)(2)(B) (establishing an exception to withholding for a dangerous alien who has been convicted of a "particularly serious crime," defined to include an "aggravated felony"). Nor is there any reason to find this equivalence under the statute. In common usage, the word "atrocious" suggests a deed more culpable and aggravated than a serious one. See Webster's Third New International Dictionary 139 (1971) (defining "atrocious" as, "marked by or given to extreme wickedness . . . [or] extreme brutality or cruelty"; "outrageous: violating the bounds of common decency"; "marked by extreme violence: savagely fierce: murderous"; "utterly revolting: abominable"). As a practical matter, if atrocious acts were deemed a necessary element of all serious nonpolitical crimes, the Attorney General would have severe restrictions upon her power to deport aliens who had engaged in serious, though not atrocious, forms of criminal activity. These restrictions cannot be discerned in the text of § 1253(h), and the Attorney General and BIA are not bound to impose the restrictions on themselves.
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