## Facts

- Juan Esquivel-Quintana, a Mexican citizen and lawful permanent resident, was convicted in California under Cal. Penal Code § 261.5(c) for consensual sexual intercourse with a “minor,” defined as a person under 18, where the victim is more than three years younger than the perpetrator.
- The Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings, alleging he was removable for having been convicted of an “aggravated felony” under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
- The INA lists “sexual abuse of a minor” as an aggravated felony category.
- An Immigration Judge found the California conviction categorically constituted “sexual abuse of a minor” and ordered removal; the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed.
- The Sixth Circuit denied review, treating the INA phrase as ambiguous and deferring to the agency’s interpretation.
- The Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether the state conviction fits the INA aggravated-felony category.

## Issues

1. Whether, under the categorical approach, a conviction under a state statutory-rape law that applies to consensual intercourse with 16- and 17-year-olds qualifies as “sexual abuse of a minor” under the INA aggravated-felony definition.
2. Whether the agency’s interpretation of “sexual abuse of a minor” is entitled to Chevron deference in the statutory-rape context.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the Sixth Circuit and remanded.
- Applying the categorical approach, the Court held that, for statutory-rape offenses based solely on the ages of the participants, the generic federal definition of “sexual abuse of a minor” requires the victim to be under 16.
- Because Cal. Penal Code § 261.5(c) criminalizes consensual intercourse with persons under 18, it is broader than the generic federal offense and is not categorically “sexual abuse of a minor.”
- The Court declined to apply Chevron deference because the statute’s meaning was resolved at step one in this context.

## Legal Principles

- Under the categorical approach, a conviction triggers an INA aggravated-felony category only if the least conduct criminalized by the statute of conviction falls within the generic federal definition of the listed offense.
- In the statutory-rape context where criminality turns solely on age, the generic federal offense of “sexual abuse of a minor” requires that the victim be younger than 16.
- A state statute that extends criminal liability to consensual intercourse with 16- or 17-year-olds is overbroad and does not categorically match the INA aggravated-felony category.
- Chevron deference does not apply when traditional tools of statutory interpretation establish the controlling federal generic definition for the relevant category.

## Conclusion

The Court held that age-based statutory-rape convictions qualify as INA “sexual abuse of a minor” only when the victim is under 16; because California’s statute reaches consensual intercourse with 16- and 17-year-olds, it is not an aggravated felony on a categorical analysis, and the removal order could not rest on that ground.


Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions, 581 U.S. 385 (2017)