
    UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Raudel ORTEGA-RAMIREZ, Defendant-Appellant.
    No. 00-50396.
    D.C. No. CR-99-1215-RAP.
    United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
    Submitted July 9, 2001 .
    Decided July 23, 2001.
    Before KOZINSKI, T.G. NELSON, and RICHARD C. TALLMAN, Circuit Judges.
    
      
       The panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2).
    
   MEMORANDUM

Raudel Ortega-Ramirez appeals his sentence imposed after his guilty plea to being an illegal alien found in the United States following deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326.

Ortega-Ramirez 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 felony which he did not admit, and which was not submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. He also contends that Apprendi renders inapplicable Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), because he did not admit to an aggravated felony at his plea hearing. His arguments are foreclosed by this court’s recent decision in United States v. Pacheco-Zepeda, 234 F.3d 411 (9th Cir.2000).

AFFIRMED. 
      
       This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as may be provided by 9 th Cir. R. 36-3.
     