Apart from asylum is the separate remedy of withholding of removal.
Like asylum, withholding of removal is premised upon a showing of prospective persecution of an alien if removed to a particular country.
Withholding of removal differs from asylum in (1) requiring a higher standard of proof; (2) limiting relief to the claimant (as opposed to also including the claimant’s spouse and minor children); (3) failing to allow for adjustment to LPR status; and (4) being a mandatory rather than discretionary form of relief for qualifying aliens.
Although the remedy of withholding is stated in mandatory terms, otherwise eligible aliens are, with limited exception, disqualified under criminal grounds similar to those that apply to asylum. The primary difference, however, is that not all aggravated felonies automatically bar withholding of removal. Instead, relief is barred only if the alien has been convicted of one or more aggravated felonies for which the aggregate sentence imposed was five years or more.