Garcia-Amaro

MEMORANDUM

Alvaro Garcia-Amaro appeals his 70-month sentence imposed following a guilty plea conviction for being an illegal alien found in the United States following deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Garcia-Amaro contends that the district court erred by enhancing his sentence 16-levels pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 for prior aggravated felony convictions which were neither charged in the indictment nor *600 admitted as his plea but which increased his sentence above the applicable statutory maximum penalty, in violation of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 , 120 S.Ct. 2348 , 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Garcia-Amaro’s contention is foreclosed by our decision in United States v. Pacheco-Zepeda, 234 F.3d 411 (9th Cir.2000) (concluding that Apprendi preserves the rule in Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224 , 118 S.Ct. 1219 , 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), that prior convictions are sentencing factors). The district court therefore properly considered Garcia-Amaro’s aggravated felonies in sentencing him although they were not charged in the indictment, admitted on the record, or proved beyond a…