Edgar Alonso Gutierrez-Ortiz (Gutierrez) appeals the 41-month sentence imposed following his guilty-plea conviction of attempted illegal re-entry of a deported alien. Gutierrez contends that the district court erred in increasing his offense level under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A). He asserts that his prior conviction for violating 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) is not a “drug trafficking offense.”

An element of a 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) offense is the defendant’s commission of an independent drug crime or facilitation of such a crime. United States v. Mankins, 135 F.3d 946, 949 (5th Cir. 1998). Gutierrez’s prior conviction was for use of a telephone to distribute heroin. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s imposition of the 16-level increase in Gutierrez’s offense level based on his previously having committed a drug trafficking offense. Id.; see United States v. Orihuela, 320 F.3d 1302 (11th Cir. 2003).

AFFIRMED.