Silva v. Gonzales, 455 F.3d 26, 2006 WL 1954969 (1st Cir. Jul. 14, 2006) (Massachusetts conviction of statutory rape of 14-year-old girl, under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, 23 ["unlawfully has sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse, and abuses a child under sixteen years of age"], constituted "rape" aggravated felony, under INA 101(a)(43)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(A), for deportation purposes) (dictum) ("Here, the statute of conviction, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, 23, specifically terms the crime of conviction "[r]ape." Under the explicit language of the INA, all rape-including statutory rape-comes within the aggravated felony taxonomy. See 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(A); see also Mattis v. Reno, 212 F.3d 31, 34-35 (1st Cir.2000) (superseded on other grounds) (holding that statutory rape . . . is an aggravated felony under INA 101(a)(43)(A)). It follows inexorably that the petitioner's state-court conviction was properly classified as a conviction for an aggravated felony.").



This analysis is plainly incorrect. It reasons that because the state labels an offense a certain way, the offense falls within the federal aggravated felony term. Many decisions, however, clearly hold that whether a crime falls within the federal definition is a matter of federal law, and the state label attached to the offense is irrelevant. See N. Tooby & J. Rollin, Aggravated Felonies 4.37 (3d Ed. 2006).