UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Nehemias LOPEZ-PEREZ, Defendant-Appellant, 521 F. App'x 875

PER CURIAM: Nehemias Lopez-Perez appeals his sentence of 33 months of imprisonment, following his pleas of guilty to one count of conspiring to transport 100 or more illegal aliens, 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(l)(A)(v)(I), (a)(l)(B)(i), and two counts of transporting illegal aliens within the United States, id. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii), (a)(l)(B)(i); 18 U.S.C. § 2. Lopez-Perez argues that his sentence is unreasonable. We affirm. The district court did not abuse its discretion.

The district court imposed a sentence at the low end of Lopez-Perez’s recommended guideline range of 33 to 41 months, and we ordinarily expect such a sentence to be reasonable. See United States v. Hunt, 526 F.3d 739, 746 (11th Cir.2008). Lopez-Perez requested a downward variance of 15 months, but the district court reasonably rejected the request because Lopez-Perez had been responsible for transporting at least 140 aliens after they entered the country illegally. The district court also reasonably determined that a sentence of 33 months of imprisonment would best serve the statutory purposes of sentencing.

See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Lopez-Perez argues that he was entitled to a lesser sentence because he had no criminal history, he was not a leader of the conspiracy, his offenses “did not involve the typical ‘aggravators’ ” that often accompanied smuggling operations, and he cooperated with authorities, but we are not persuaded that Lopez-Perez’s sentence “lies outside the range of reasonable sentences dictated by the facts of [his] case.” United States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160, 1190 (11th Cir.2010) (internal quotation marks omitted).

The district court imposed the sentence that Lopez-Perez requested as an alternative to a sentence below the guidelines, and that sentence is reasonable. We AFFIRM Lopez-Perez’s sentence.