ZHI FEI LIAO v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES (2021)

OPINION *

Zhi Liao returns to this Court a second time. We granted his first petition for review after holding that the BIA erred when it held that Liao's conviction for violating Pennsylvania's child endangerment statute, 18 PA. CONS. STAT. § 4304(a)(1), was a removable child abuse offense under the Immigration and Nationality Act. See Liao v. Att'y Gen. (Liao I), 910 F.3d 714, 717 (3d Cir. 2018).

In Liao I, the BIA did not address whether Liao's terroristic threats conviction in violation of 18 PA. CONS. STAT. § 2706(a)(1) rendered him removable, so we remanded the case for consideration of that issue. The Board of Immigration Appeals upheld the immigration judge's ruling that Liao was removable to his native China because of that conviction. Liao petitions for review once again.

Exercising our jurisdiction over final orders of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1), we review Liao's legal challenge to the BIA's single member decision de novo. Liao I, 910 F.3d at 718. The Government now concedes that Liao's Pennsylvania conviction for terroristic threats does not constitute a removable crime of domestic violence under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). See Gov't Br. 3, 16, 19 (citing United States v. Brown, 765 F.3d 185, 193 (3d Cir. 2014)). So we will grant the petition, vacate the final order of removal, and remand with instructions for the BIA to remand to the IJ with instructions to dismiss the removal proceedings against Liao.

HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.