Montenegro-Samaniego

MEMORANDUM **

The United States of America appeals the district court’s grant of a downward departure in sentencing Defendant Ramon Montenegro-Samaniego following his guilty-plea conviction for being an alien who reentered the United States without permission following deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . We review de novo the district court’s decision to depart from the Sentencing Guidelines. United *493 States v. Phillips, 367 F.3d 846, 854 (9th Cir.2004).

The district court departed downward by eight levels to mitigate the effect of U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii), which provides for a sixteen-level enhancement where the defendant has a predicate conviction for a felony that constitutes a “crime of violence.” Defendant does not dispute that the guidelines define “crime of violence” specifically to include kidnapping. See U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2, cmt. n. l(B)(ii) (2002).

The district court’s decision to depart downward based upon its view of the circumstances of Defendant’s 2001 kidnapping conviction was improper because the enhancement set forth in U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii) is mandatory. The Sentencing Commission, in 2001 amendments to this guideline, specifically…