The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has officially cleared the way for the deportation of Nyynkpao Banyee, a native of the Ivory Coast, after a long-running legal dispute over whether a North Dakota robbery conviction counts as an “aggravated felony.”
In a ruling filed Wednesday, the court sided with U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi, denying Banyee’s petition to remain in the country.
Banyee originally came to the United States as a child refugee in 2004. While he became a lawful permanent resident a year later, his adult life was marked by several run-ins with the law. The turning point came in 2018 when he was convicted of a Class B felony for a robbery in North Dakota involving a firearm.
By 2021, federal immigration authorities moved to deport him, arguing that his criminal record—specifically the robbery—made him ineligible for any special legal mercy.
The heart of the case was a dense technical debate over the definition of theft. Banyee’s lawyers tried to argue that North Dakota’s robbery laws are “overbroad,” meaning they cover more types of crimes than the federal definition of theft. They suggested that because the state law could theoretically include “theft by deception” or fraud, it shouldn’t be used as a mandatory trigger for deportation.
However, the three-judge panel wasn’t buying it. Judge Benton, writing for the court, noted that robbery by its very nature involves the threat of force or bodily injury, which fits squarely within federal standards.
The court pointed out that Banyee couldn’t show any real-world examples where North Dakota used its robbery statute to prosecute someone for simple fraud or trickery.
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Because the court classified the robbery as an aggravated felony, Banyee is now legally barred from “cancellation of removal,” a type of relief that allows some long-term residents to stay in the U.S. despite certain crimes.
This decision effectively ends his legal battle to stay in the country, upholding the previous orders from immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals.
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