Alvarez-Varela

MEMORANDUM **

Appellant Olbert Maximiliano Alvarez-Varela appeals the district court’s imposition of a 57-month sentence for illegal re-entry of an alien deported after the commission of an aggravated felony, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . He argues that his sentence violated his due process rights because he was deported before he completed probation, which prevented him from having his case dismissed pursuant to the rehabilitative provisions of California Penal Code § 1203.4. This argument is foreclosed by Ramirez-Castro v. INS, which provides that expunged convictions retain their immigration consequences. 287 F.3d 1172, 1174 (9th Cir.2002).

Alvarez-Varela asserts that, because judgment on his drug offense was “withheld” and he was granted probation, he was “convicted” neither of an “aggravated felony,” justifying an enhancement pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (b), nor of a “drug trafficking offense,” justifying an enhancement pursuant to § 2L1.2(b)(1)(B) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (Guidelines). However, in California, a defendant is convicted when he enters a guilty plea and it is accepted. See People v. Wallace, 33 Cal.4th 738 , 16 Cal.Rptr.3d 96 , 93 P.3d…