Mendez-Morales

MEMORANDUM ***

Joel Mendez-Morales, a native and citizen of Mexico who escaped a Mexican prison and fled to the United States, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Mendez-Morales testified that he had been tortured to extract a confession to a charge of attempted murder and that prison officials continued to torture him while he remained imprisoned.

We have jurisdiction to hear Mendez-Morales’s petition. Because Mendez-Morales committed the predicate felony in Mexico, before his entry into the United States, the jurisdiction-stripping provision contained in 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(2)(C) does .not apply. Section 1252(a)(2)(C) deprives us of jurisdiction where an “alien ... is convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after admission.” 8 U.S.C. § 1227 (a)(2)(A)(iii). It is uncontested that the aggravated felony at issue occurred before Mendez-Morales’s admission to the United States.

We review the BIA’s determination that an applicant has not demonstrated eligibility for relief under CAT for “substantial…