PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ______________ No. 17-1825 ______________ ZHI FEI LIAO, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent ______________ On Petition for Review of an Order of the United States Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals Agency No. A074-862-076 Immigration Judge: Honorable Kuyomars Q. Golparvar ______________ Argued October 3, 2018 ______________ Before: SHWARTZ, ROTH, and FISHER, Circuit Judges. (Filed: December 10, 2018) _____________ OPINION ______________ Joshua S. Bolian [ARGUED] Robbins Russell Englert Orseck Untereiner & Sauber 2000 K Street, N.W. 4th Floor Washington, DC 20006 Counsel for Petitioner** Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General Shelley R. Goad, Assistant Director Jonathan A. Robbins [ARGUED] Office of Immigration Litigation United States Department of Justice Civil Division P.O. Box 878, Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044 Counsel for Respondent SHWARTZ, Circuit Judge. Zhi Fei Liao petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal ** Attorney for Petitioner appeared pro bono, and his service is in the highest tradition of our profession. We thank him for his representation in this case. 2 of an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order removing him from the United States based upon his alleged commission of a “crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment” under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). Because the elements of his crime of conviction, endangering the welfare of a child under 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4304(a)(1), do not match the elements of the crime of “child abuse” under the INA, the order of removal was improperly entered. Therefore, we will grant the petition for review and remand to the BIA for further proceedings. I Liao, a native and citizen of China, became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2005. On April 18, 2015, Liao had a physical altercation with his girlfriend, Yin Yu. A neighbor called the police, and Yu told the responding police officers that she was holding her infant son, J.Y., while Liao struck her, but that J.Y. was not “hit or hurt” during this encounter. She said, however, that at some point during the fight, J.Y. was placed on the bed and fell from the bed to the floor. Officers arrested Liao, charging him with three offenses, including endangering the welfare of a child in violation of 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4304(a)(1). Liao was convicted and served 106 days of his 90-330 day prison sentence. Following Liao’s release from state custody, the Department of Homeland Security served Liao with a notice that he was subject to removal for, among other things, committing “a crime of domestic violence, a crime of stalking, or a crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment,” which rendered him removable under 8 U.S.C. 3 § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i).1 The IJ ordered Liao’s removal, holding that endangering the welfare of children in violation of Pennsylvania law constituted a “crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment,” within the meaning ...
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