Mbea v. Gonzales, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 852346 (4th Cir. March 22, 2007) (District of Columbia conviction of malicious burning of property, in violation of D.C.Code 22-401 (1994) [current version at D.C.Code Ann. 22-301 (2000)], with an indeterminate sentence from 18 months to five years imprisonment, constitutes a crime of violence, under 18 U.S.C. 16(a), and therefore an aggravated felony which renders him statutorily ineligible for cancellation of removal under INA 240(A)(a) and for a hardship waiver under INA 212(h)(1)(B), since: "Fire is itself a physical force. Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary defines "physical force" as, inter alia, "an influence acting within the physical world, a force of nature." See Oxford English Dictionary (2003). Fire is nothing if not a "force of nature" that exerts an influence "within the physical world." For fire not only has the power to provide warmth and light, but also the power to destroy."); see United States v. Mitchell, 23 F.3d 1, 2 n.3 (1st Cir. 1994) (per curiam) (holding that federal arson as set forth in 18 U.S.C. 844(i) is a "crime of violence" under 18 U.S.C. 3156(a)(4)); United States v. Marzullo, 780 F.Supp. 658, 662 & n. 7 (W.D.Mo. 1991) (same); United States v. Shaker, 665 F.Supp. 698, 702 n. 4 (N.D.Ind. 1987) (same).
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