MEMORANDUM **
Alejandro Soria-Cortez appeals the 70-month sentence imposed following his guilty plea to unlawful reentry of a deported alien after conviction in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. Soria-Cortez 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 was not pled in the indictment, to which he did not admit at his change of plea hearing, and which was not submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. As Soria-Cortez acknowledges, this court has specifically rejected the contention that Apprendi overruled Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998). United States v. Pacheco-Zepeda, 234 F.3d 411 (9th Cir.2000), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 121 S.Ct. 1503, 149 L.Ed.2d 388 (2001).
AFFIRMED.
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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 Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.