Immigration counsel could argue that 18 U.S.C. 3559(e) should be used to define minor in the sexual abuse of a minor context, INA 101(a)(43)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(A), and child in the domestic violence deportation ground, INA 237(a)(2)(E)(i), 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(E)(i). See United States v. Doss, ___ F.3d ___, 2011 WL 871391 (9th Cir. Mar. 15, 2011) (in federal criminal cases, the prior sex offense must involve a victim age 16 or under in order to enhance a sentence to a life sentence 18 U.S.C. 3559(e)). The argument is nonfrivolous, but unlikely to win. In the immigration context, the BIA has specifically held that a minor is a person under the age of 18, for purposes of the aggravated felony 'sexual abuse of a minor' and a deportable 'crime of child abuse.' The Ninth Circuit has upheld this rule, except in Estrada-Espinoza, when it defined sexual abuse of a minor in the context of consensual sex with a minor as only applying to a minor under the age of 16. In non-consensual contexts, however, for example in finding that a conviction of annoying or molesting a minor, in violation of California Penal Code 647.9, is divisible as a sexual abuse of a minor aggravated felony, the Ninth Circuit has accepted that the age of the victim may go up through 17. Thanks to Katherine Brady.