MEMORANDUM **

Jaime Garcia-Chavez appeals the judgment of conviction and 37-month sentence following his guilty plea to being a deported alien found in the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. Garcia-Chavez 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 improperly imposed a sentence in excess of the two-year maximum set forth in 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) because the government neither pled in the indictment nor established through the guilty plea that Garcia-Chavez had sustained a prior aggravated felony conviction. 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) (holding that 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2) is a sentencing factor and not a separate offense). These arguments are foreclosed by United States v. Pacheco-Zepeda, 234 F.3d 411 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 121 S.Ct. 1503, 149 L.Ed.2d 388 (2001). Accordingly, the district court’s judgment is

AFFIRMED.