Opinion
No. 14-70071
12-15-2015
MALIK NKRUMAN WELCH, AKA Kahlil Kevin Felix, AKA Khalil Felix, AKA Simon Samuel, AKA Samuels Simon, AKA Malik Welch, AKA Malik N. Welch, Petitioner, v. LORETTA E. LYNCH, Attorney General, Respondent.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
Agency No. A205-718-793 MEMORANDUM On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Before: WALLACE, RAWLINSON, and IKUTA, Circuit Judges.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Malik Nkruman Welch, a native and citizen of Belize, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' ("BIA") order dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge's decision denying his application for cancellation of removal. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We review de novo questions of law, Carrillo v. Holder, 781 F.3d 1155, 1157 (9th Cir. 2015), and deny the petition for review.
The BIA correctly concluded that Welch's conviction under California Penal Code § 273.5(a) (2002) is a crime of domestic violence under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). See id. at 1157-60 (holding that the version of § 273.5(a), effective from 2001 through 2003, is categorically a crime of domestic violence, and rejecting petitioner's claim that the scope of potential victims encompassed by the California provision is broader than the scope of the federal provision). Accordingly, the agency correctly concluded that Welch is ineligible for cancellation of removal. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1229b(b)(1)(C), 1227(a)(2)(E)(i).
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.