The Department of Justice filed court papers this week to dismiss charges against a Salvadoran man the administration had accused of being a leader in the violent MS-13 gang.
Lawyers for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s DOJ asked a federal court on Wednesday to drop the charges filed against Henrry Villatoro Santos. Santos’ arrest in Woodbridge, Virginia was seen as a high-profile win for the administration with several high-ranking cabinet members celebrating the capture on social media.
In March, federal agents arrested Santos in Northern Virginia and had identified the 24-year-old man as one of the top leaders of the violent Mara Salvatrucha gang, known commonly as MS-13. “Just captured a major leader of MS13. Tom HOMAN is a superstar,” President Donald Trump had posted to Truth Social at the time of Santos’ arrest.
The arrest was made with cooperation from the FBI, Prince William County Police, ATF, ICE, and the Virginia State Police. Santos was taken in on an outstanding administrative immigration warrant and was later charged with illegal gun possession.
Wednesday’s one page-filing did not give an explanation for the dropping of the charges, yet individuals familiar with the matter suspect the DOJ dropped the charges in the case in order to expediate Santos’ deportation from the country. U.S. authorities used a similar tactic earlier in the month when it dropped charges against Cesar Lopez-Larios, also accused of being an MS-13 leader, in order to secure deportation to El Salvador.
Santos’ defense attorney Muhammad Elsayed argued that the charges not be dropped, saying it was done so his client would be moved into ICE custody. “The danger of Mr. Villatoro Santos being unlawfully deported by ICE without due process and removed to El Salvador, where he would almost certainly be immediately detained at one of the worst prisons in the world without any right to contest his removal, is substantial, both in light of the Government’s recent actions and the very public pronouncements in this particular case.”
At the time of his arrest, Bondi announced her intentions of removing Santos from the U.S. as quickly as possible. “He is an illegal alien from El Salvador,” she said, “and he won’t be living in this country much longer.”
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