In United States v. Torres-Gonzalez, --- F.4th ---, No. 25-2897 (9th Cir. 2026), the Court affirmed the sentence imposed on Cruz Torres-Gonzalez for his 2024 conviction for illegal reentry into the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326.
In 2014, Cruz Torres-Gonzalez was convicted of illegal reentry into the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 and of making false statements to the federal officers who arrested him in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. He was sentenced to 35 months on each count in the same proceeding. The sentences ran concurrently.n 2024, Torres-Gonzalez was convicted once again of illegal reentry. At his sentencing, the district court applied two offense-level enhancements pursuant to § 2L1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines. U.S. Sent’g Guidelines Manual § 2L1.2 (U.S. Sent’g Comm’n 2024) (U.S.S.G.). At issue in this appeal is the enhancement directed by U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(3), which provides a specific offense-level enhancement based upon the length of the sentence imposed for Torres-Gonzalez’s prior non-reentry conviction that occurred after he was first ordered removed from the United States.Torres-Gonzalez argues that the district court erred by applying an eight-level enhancement based on his prior false-statement conviction. He does not dispute that an eight-level enhancement is triggered by a sentence of two years or more for prior non-reentry convictions, U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(3)(B), but he argues that the length of the sentence for his false-statement offense was actually determined by the sentence he received for his 2014 reentry conviction. We conclude that the district court properly interpreted the Sentencing Guidelines when it determined the enhancements applicable at Torres-Gonzalez’s 2024 sentencing. Accordingly, we affirm the sentence imposed by the district court.It is undisputed that the sentence Torres-Gonzalez received for the false-statement offense in 2014 was due to the operation of the Guidelines’ “grouping” rules. Where a defendant has been convicted of multiple counts, U.S.S.G. § 3D1.1, the Guidelines direct that counts that are “closely related” because they “involv[e] substantially the same harm” should be “grouped.” U.S.S.G. § 3D1.2. Generally, the count with the highest offense level is the offense level for the group, U.S.S.G. § 3D1.3(a), and the offense level applicable to the grouped offenses is used to determine the appropriate sentence. U.S.S.G. § 3D1.5. The “total punishment” applies concurrently to each count in a group.On appeal, Torres-Gonzalez again argues that imposition of the eight-level enhancement was erroneous. He reasons that the 35-month sentence he received in 2014 for making a false statement was determined by his § 1326 felony illegal reentry conviction because the charges were grouped and the § 1326 charge carried the highest offense level. He characterizes § 1326 as “the type of offense excepted from” the U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(3) enhancement provision because the Guidelines specify a four-level enhancement for prior § 1326 convictions and a sliding-scale enhancement in subsection (b)(3) only for other felony convictions entered after an initial § 1326 conviction. Thus, according to Torres-Gonzalez, the 35-month sentence he received for making a false statement was actually predicated upon the § 1326 conviction, and that offense should not be used to determine the appropriate enhancement added pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(3). Torres-Gonzalez urges us to direct the district court to apply the residual four-level enhancement, U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(3)(D), on remand because that enhancement is not determined by the length of a prior sentence.As the district court recognized, the sentence for Torres-Gonzalez’s non-reentry offense was likely higher than it would have been if he had been sentenced solely for making a false statement to a federal officer because the 2014 sentencing court was persuaded that a 35-month sentence was needed to deter him from continuing to enter the country illegally. Nevertheless, Torres-Gonzalez received a 35- month sentence for the false-statement conviction, and the district court faithfully applied the eight-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(3)(B). Contrary to Torres-Gonzalez’s suggestion, his sentence for the false-statement conviction was not “replaced” by the sentence for the reentry offense; rather, the charges were grouped consistent with the Guidelines. We discern no error in the district court’s reading of the Guidelines’ text.
