The Board of Immigration Appeals ultimately denied his application without a hearing and explained that Stevic had not presented any further evidence he would be persecuted in Yugoslavia.

It held that the law simply required an alien to show a "well-founded fear" of persecution, instead of a "clear probability," and remanded the case to the immigration department for a plenary hearing.

The Court stated that "in 1980 Congress intended to adopt a standard of withholding of deportation claims by reference to pre-existing sources of law."

The United States acceded to the UN protocol on refugees in 1968, but both the President and the Senate believed that doing so would require no modification of statutory law.

In 1980, Congress finally conformed United States statutory law to the UN protocol, but the modifications did not clarify how great a possibility of persecution must exist before the alien can qualify for withholding of removal.

Our holding does, of course, require the Court of Appeals to reexamine this record to determine whether the evidence submitted by respondent entitles him to a plenary hearing under the proper standard.