Sosa

MEMORANDUM

Fernando Sosa, a citizen of Ecuador, petitions this court for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissing his appeal from an Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We deny the petition.

1. On June 18, 1999, Sosa pleaded “no contest” to a violation of California Penal Code § 273.5(a), “willfully inflict[ing]” on his spouse “corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition.” The BIA affirmed the IJ’s finding that Sosa had thus been convicted of a “particularly serious crime” and is therefore ineligible for asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (b)(2)(A)(ii) and for withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 (b)(3)(B)(ii).

The IJ applied the correct legal standard in evaluating Sosa’s conviction. Whether a crime is “particularly serious” is a case-specific determination, “the proper focus” of which “is on the nature of the crime.” In re N-A-M-, 24 I. & N. Dec. 336, 342 (BIA 2007); see also Anaya-Ortiz v. Holder, 594 F.3d 673, 679 (9th Cir.2010) (quoting In re Frentescu, 18 I. & N. Dec. 244, 247 (BIA 1982)). “[0]nce the elements of the offense are examined and…