Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Bonifacio FELIX-SALAS, Defendant-Appellant
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2006-03-03
Citations: 169 F. App'x 848
Docket Number: No. 04-41606
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Bonifacio FELIX-SALAS, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before JONES, Chief Judge, and WIENER and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 169
Pages: 848–849

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Bonifacio FELIX-SALAS, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 04-41606.
Summary Calendar.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
Decided March 3, 2006.
James Lee Turner, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Jeffery Alan Babcock, U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Marjorie A. Meyers, Federal Public Defender, H. Michael Sokolow, Federal Public Defender’s Office Southern District of Texas, Houston, TX, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before JONES, Chief Judge, and WIENER and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM:
Bonifacio Felix-Salas (Felix) appeals his guilty-plea conviction and 30-month sentence for being found in the United States following deportation. Felix argues that 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b) is unconstitutional because it treats prior felony and aggravated felony convictions as sentencing factors. Felix's constitutional challenge is foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 235, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998). Although Felix contends that Almendarez-Torres was incorrectly decided and that a majority of the Supreme Court would overrule Almendarez-Torres in light of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), we have repeatedly rejected such arguments on the basis that Almendarez-Torres remains binding. See United States v. Garza-Lopez, 410 F.3d 268, 276 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 126 S.Ct. 298, 163 L.Ed.2d 260 (2005). Felix properly concedes that his argument is foreclosed in light of Almendarez-Torres and circuit precedent, but he raises it here to preserve it for further review.
Felix also contends that the district court erred in sentencing him pursuant to the mandatory guidelines regime held unconstitutional in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 764-65, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005). The sentencing transcript is devoid of evidence that the district court would have imposed the same sentence under an advisory regime, and, therefore, the Government has not borne its burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that the district court's error was harmless. See United States v. Walters, 418 F.3d 461, 464 (5th Cir.2005).
CONVICTION AFFIRMED; VACATED AND REMANDED FOR RESEN-TENCING.
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.