Abgaryan

MEMORANDUM

Petitioner Elvira Abgaryan (“Abgar-yan”), a citizen of Armenia, seeks cancellation of removal under the battered spouse provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). INA § 240A(b)(2); 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(2). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and we deny the petition for cancellation of removal.

Although the Attorney General has discretion whether to grant or deny an application for cancellation of removal, see 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(2), we retain jurisdiction to review an alien’s statutory eligibility for such relief. See Montero-Martinez v. Ashcroft, 277 F.3d 1137, 1144-45 (9th Cir.2002) (holding that the court retained jurisdiction to review the purely legal question of whether the applicant’s adult daughter qualified as a “child” under section 240A(b)(1) and was thus eligible for cancellation of removal). Thus, we have jurisdiction to review the BIA’s determination that Abgaryan is ineligible for cancellation of removal under section 240A(b)(2) because she failed to establish the validity of her marriage to a United States citizen by showing that her first marriage had ended in death or divorce.

We conclude that the record does not compel a…