Tavera-Perez

MEMORANDUM **

Fernando Tavera-Perez appeals his conviction pursuant to a guilty plea and his 57-month sentence for unlawful reentry by a deported, removed and/or excluded alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . We affirm.

Tavera-Perez contends that he cannot be subjected to a sentencing enhaneement under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (b) because that statute applies to aliens who have been removed, and not to aliens who have been deported, as Tavera-Perez was. This contention lacks merit because we have held that there is no legally significant distinction between “deportation,” “exclusion” and “removal” for purposes of the crime defined by 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a) and the enhancement under section 1326(b). United States v. Luna-Madellaga, 315 F.3d 1224 , 1225 n. 2 (9th Cir.2003); United States v. Lopez-Gonzalez, 183 F.3d 933, 934-35 (9th Cir.1999).

Tavera-Perez also contends that in light of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 , 120 S.Ct. 2348 , 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), the district court erred in imposing a sentence in excess of the two-year maximum set forth in 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a) based upon a prior aggravated felony which the indictment did not allege, to which he did not admit, and which was…