Velazquez-Herrera

Victor Ramon Velazquez-Herrera petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) adopting and affirming the decision of the Immigration Judge (IJ), who determined that petitioner’s conviction under Washington’s fourth degree assault statute, Wash. Rev.Code § 9A.36.041, constituted a crime of child abuse under 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (a)(2)(E)®, thereby making petitioner removable and ineligible for discretionary relief. We grant the petition and remand to the BIA so that it may issue a precedential decision defining what constitutes a crime of child abuse for purposes of § 1227(a)(2)(E)® and apply that definition to petitioner’s conviction in accordance with Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 , 110 S.Ct. 2143 , 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990).

We have jurisdiction to review questions of law raised in a petition for review. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(2)(D).

The Immigration and Nationality Act does not define the term “child abuse” in 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (a)(2)(E)® (“Any alien who at any time after admission is convicted of ... a crime of child abuse ... is deportable.”), nor has our case law defined the term as it is used in that statute. The BIA has described child abuse…