The United States Supreme Court has granted a petition to hear a case from a Guatemalan asylum applicant. The case, INS v. Aguirre-Aguirre involves a man who entered the United States without inspection in 1993 via the Mexican-California border from his home country of Guatemala. During deportation proceedings, the man applied for asylum. He testified that he was a student leader in Guatemala and participated in the burning of ten buses and the vandalism of stores as a form of political protest. The judge found the testimony credible and granted asylum and withholding of deportation.

The INS appealed the case to the Board of Immigration Appeals and won. The BIA held that the "nature of his acts against innocent Guatemalans" made him unworthy of a favorable exercise of discretion since the criminal nature of the respondent's acts outweigh their political nature. The BIA did not consider what fate Aguirre would face if deported to Guatemala and did not weigh the character of Aguirre's crimes in relation to his political objectives. The BIA also failed to follow precedent from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the court immediately below the Supreme Court.

The case was appealed up to the Ninth Circuit that ordered the BIA to reconsider the case. The INS has appealed again and the Supreme Court has now agreed to hear the case, one of only a handful of immigration cases that will be considered this year by the Supreme Court.