Judge lets Trump administration drop criminal case against MS-13 suspect in favor of deportation
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to abandon its criminal case against an alleged national leader of the violent MS-13 gang and instead move to deport him, but is giving the man's lawyer time to try to block him from being whisked out of the country.
During a hearing Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick turned down a request from an attorney for Henrry Villatoro Santos that the government be required to explain in detail its plans for seeking the Salvadoran man's deportation.
Defense lawyer Muhammad Elsayed also asked that the administration be required to provide an assurance that Villatoro Santos would not be rapidly expelled from the country under the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used legal authority President Donald Trump recently invoked against another gang, Tren de Aragua.
'All we are asking for from the government is a very simple commitment,' Elsayed said. He noted that Attorney General Pam Bondi, present during the 'high-profile spectacle' of his client's arrest, later said the government was seeking he be 'immediately deported.'
After attending the arrest along with a Fox News TV crew, Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel joined Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin at a press conference where she called Villatoro Santos one of the top three leaders of MS-13 in the U.S. and its top figure on the East Coast. She accused him of overseeing violent crimes but did not detail any criminal record on his part.
Elsayed said the government's actions indicated his client would be expelled from the U.S. to El Salvador's anti-terrorism prison, known as CECOT. 'No one has ever made it out of that prison,' the lawyer said.
After the March 27 arrest, prosecutors filed a single felony charge against Villatoro Santos, 24, for being a foreigner in possession of a firearm. An immigration agent said in an affidavit that officers discovered a total of four firearms, two silencers and ammunition.
Fitzpatrick said it wasn't his role to probe into the reasons for the U.S. government's decision to drop the criminal case.
'The court cannot and should not second guess decisions that are uniquely prosecutorial in nature,' Fitzpatrick said, noting that the prosecution indicated that the government decided to pursue deportation instead. 'I think going beyond that is an improper intrusion into the executive branch.'
'I think the government certainly has a right to terminate this case,' the judge added.
However, Fitzpatrick said that he would hold the criminal case open through Friday before dismissing it. That will allow Elsayed to file a separate suit that seeks to block the Department of Homeland Security from deporting Villatoro Santos outside the usual immigration process, the judge said.
Villatoro Santos, wearing a dark green jail jumpsuit, was present for the hearing. He listened to the proceedings through a Spanish interpreter but did not address the court.
Elsayed declined to comment to reporters after the hearing.
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