Opinion ID: 3039321
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The victim is a child who resides or has resided

Text: in the same household as the defendant and is related by blood to a former spouse of the defendant or to a person who resides or who has resided in the same household as the defendant. In March 2003, the Immigration and Naturalization Service sought to deport Fernandez-Ruiz for committing a crime of domestic violence. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i), Any alien who at any time after admission is con- victed of a crime of domestic violence, a crime of stalking, or a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment is deportable. For purposes of this clause, the term “crime of domestic violence” means any crime of violence (as defined in section 17882 FERNANDEZ-RUIZ v. GONZALES 16 of Title 18) against a person committed by a cur- rent or former spouse of the person, by an individual with whom the person shares a child in common, by an individual who is cohabiting with or has cohab- ited with the person as a spouse, by an individual similarly situated to a spouse of the person under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction where the offense occurs, or by any other individual against a person who is protected from that individual’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the United States or any State, Indian tribal government, or unit of local government. Eighteen U.S.C. § 16(a) in turn defines a misdemeanor “crime of violence” as: “(a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another.” Relying on our decision in United States v. Ceron-Sanchez, 222 F.3d 1169 (9th Cir. 2000), the BIA concluded that Fernandez-Ruiz’s 2003 conviction was a “crime of domestic violence” and affirmed an immigration judge’s decision ordering Fernandez-Ruiz deported. Fernandez-Ruiz petitions for relief from his deportation order on the ground that Leocal overruled Ceron-Sanchez and established that a conviction such as his, which may have been based on reckless conduct, is not categorically a crime of domestic violence. See generally Taylor, 495 U.S. at 600-02.