Salvador Viramontes-Rodriguez (Vira-montes) pleaded guilty to illegal reentry into the United States following deportation. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). Viramontes maintains that his 30-month sentence, which was below the properly calculated guidelines range, is substantively unreasonable.

Viramontes’s assertion that his sentence is unreasonable is conclusory and unsupported by legal analysis. An appellate court is not required to search the record to find the legal basis for an issue. United States, v. Brace, 145 F.3d 247, 255 (5th Cir. 1998) (en banc). Because Viramontes is represented by counsel on appeal, his brief is not entitled to liberal construction. See Beasley v. McCotter, 798 F.2d 116, 118 (5th Cir. 1986). Issues must be briefed to be preserved. Fed. R.App. P. 28(a)(9). Consequently, given that Viramontes’s only issue for appeal has not been preserved, we do not consider it. Moreover, nothing in the briefs or the record gives us any reason to believe that the below guideline sentence is unreasonable.

AFFIRMED.