Opinion ID: 2799581
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Violent or Dangerous Crime Determination

Text: Torres-Valdivias next contends that the BIA committed an error of law in finding that his sexual battery offense constituted a violent or dangerous crime triggering the heightened standard of Matter of Jean. Although framed in an attempt to present a question of law, we conclude that this argument challenges the BIA’s discretionary decision to view his crime as a violent or dangerous one. We therefore lack jurisdiction to decide the merits of this argument. At its core, this argument relies on distinguishing, on its facts, Torres-Valdivias’s crime from the crime involved in Matter of Jean. Whereas Torres-Valdivias accepts that manslaughter, the crime involved in Matter of Jean, constitutes a violent or dangerous crime, he denies that sexual battery rises to the same level. A fact-intensive determination in which the equities must be weighed in reaching a conclusion is a prototypical example of a discretionary decision. Torres-Valdivias’s claim therefore “fall[s] well within the BIA’s discretionary authority and [is] not subject to our review.” Mejia v. Gonzales, 499 F.3d 991, 999 (9th Cir. 2007) (citing 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(2)(B)(i)).