Velasquez-Bosque

We are asked to decide whether carjacking under California Penal Code section 215 is a categorical crime of violence under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii). We hold that it is, and we reverse.

I

Fernando Velasquez-Bosque was convicted of violating 8 U.S.C. § 1326 , which makes it a crime for an alien who has been removed from the United States to reenter the country. Velasquez-Bosque had a previous felony conviction for carjacking under California Penal Code section 215. At sentencing on the § 1326 conviction, the government urged the district court to increase Velasquez-Bosque’s base offense level under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines by sixteen-levels pursuant to § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii), which applies to defendants who were previously deported after being convicted of a felony that is a crime of violence. The government claimed that Velasquez-Bosque’s carjacking conviction constituted a categorical crime of violence warranting the enhancement.

The district court declined to apply the enhancement. It determined that carjacking under section 215 was not a crime of violence for purposes of the Guidelines because it criminalized more conduct than the enumerated offenses listed in the…