Afzal

MEMORANDUM **

Petitioner Faheem Afzal seeks review of two actions taken by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”): (1) a summary affirmation of the decision of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) finding him deportable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (a)(2)(A)(ii) (conviction, after admission, of two crimes involving moral turpitude), and (2) a denial of his motion to reconsider or reopen removal proceedings. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a) and deny the petition.

Afzal’s chief argument, that a 1997 conviction for petty theft, charged as an infraction rather than a misdemeanor under California Penal Code § § 484(a) and 490.1, was not a conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude is unavailing.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) defines the term “conviction” as “a formal judgment of guilt of the alien entered by a court or ... where ... the alien has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere ... and ... the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, *832 or restraint.” 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(48)(A). Under California law “[e]rimes and public offenses include: [fjelonies; [mjisdemean-ors; and [¡Infractions.” CaLPenal Code § 16; see also People v. Statum,…