U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2004

United States v. Salinas-Romo

United States v. Salinas-Romo
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Decided February 17, 2004 · Higginbotham, Garza, Prado
87 F. App'x 399

United States v. Salinas-Romo

Opinion

*400 PER CURIAM. *

Rene Osvaldo Salinas-Romo appeals his guilty-plea conviction and sentence for being found illegally present in the United States after deportation as well as the subsequent revocation of a term of supervised release from an earlier conviction. He argues, pursuant to Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), that the “felony” and “aggravated felony” provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1) and (2) are elements of the offense, not sentence enhancements, making those provisions unconstitutional. Salinas concedes that this argument is foreclosed and he raises it for possible review by the Supreme Court.

This argument is foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 235, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998). We must follow the precedent set in Almendarez-Torres “unless and until the Supreme Court itself determines to overrule it.” United States v. Dabeit, 231 F.3d 979, 984 (5th Cir. 2000) (internal quotation and citation omitted).

AFFIRMED.

*

Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.

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