Lopez-Gonzalez

MEMORANDUM **

Federal prisoner Ruben Lopez-Gonzalez appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 habeas corpus petition. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2253 , review de novo, see United States v. Cha- *826 con-Palomares, 208 F.3d 1157, 1158 (9th Cir.2000), and affirm.

Lopez-Gonzalez contends that the general rule pronounced in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 , 120 S.Ct. 2348 , 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), is retroactively applicable to collateral proceedings, that Apprendi overruled or limited Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224 , 118 S.Ct. 1219 , 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), and, therefore, that his sentence is unconstitutional because his prior aggravated felony conviction was not stated in the indictment, submitted to a jury, and proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Without deciding whether Apprendi is retroactively applicable to collateral proceedings, we conclude Lopez-Gonzalez’s arguments are unavailing. We have previously determined that Apprendi preserves the holding in Almendarez-Torres that prior convictions are sentencing factors, not elements of the offense that need to submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. United…