Justice Department dropping charges against man accused of being MS-13’s ‘leader for the East Coast’

So we're gonna go into sector 4 right here, but if you look just straight down there at the very end, that's sector 8 that's where the deportees are being held. We cannot go into that sector when I ask why he says it's not part of this approved tour. But we will go into sector 4 right now. And he said we're gonna notice *** difference from the last time we were here. The last time we were here, the director tells me there were roughly 80 or so people inside each of the jumbo cells. This time he said, notice the numbers, it's *** bit more crowded. He suggests *** bit more than 100. Well Dias. Why are there more people here? He says the state of exception, essentially the state of emergency that's been declared under President Bukele going back 2022 will not end until the last gang member has been taken from the communities and brought here to Seat. he said everybody's got the same conditions. It doesn't matter where you are, including sector 8. This is the place where El Alpor says they keep the worst of the worst. And now US it said deportees here.

The Justice Department moved to drop charges Wednesday against a man they had alleged to be a “major leader” of the MS-13 gang – just weeks after publicly lauding his arrest – a move his lawyer says is the first step toward immediately deporting him to El Salvador.Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a press conference last month, said the man, Henrry Villatoro Santos, was MS-13’s “leader for the East Coast,” and that he was among the “horrible, violent, worst of the worst criminals.”Video above: Go inside El Salvador prison where Trump administration is sending alleged gang membersNow, just two weeks later, Trump’s Justice Department, without explanation, moved to dismiss the single federal charge he faced for unlawfully possessing a firearm. In a court filing, prosecutors said only that “the government no longer wishes to pursue the instant prosecution at this time.”The switch in tactic comes as the Trump administration works to rapidly deport alleged gang members. In March, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives a president broad power to target and remove undocumented immigrants in times of war or when an enemy attempts an “invasion or predatory incursion.”Villatoro Santos’ lawyer quickly moved to temporarily keep the federal charges pending against his client, saying that if the case were dropped, Villatoro Santos would be “immediately transferred to 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,” defense attorney Muhammad Elsayed wrote to the court.He cited the ongoing legal battle over Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport more than 200 Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador’s maximum-security mega prison. Elsayed said that “in its rush to prove to the American public that this administration is tough on crime and immigration enforcement,” the government has “wrongfully deported” people and maintains that it has “no obligation” to facilitate their returns.“The undersigned is keenly aware of the unusual nature of this motion,” he wrote. “But these are unusual times.”According to court documents unsealed last month in the Eastern District of Virginia, Villatoro Santos was taken into custody on an outstanding administrative immigration warrant. He was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm. Federal agents found several firearms in the residence.The arrest was executed by a new interagency task force established by the Trump administration to target transnational organized crime and coordinate ongoing immigration enforcement efforts across Virginia. Its creation was part of a crackdown by the Trump administration on foreign gang members residing in the United States.

WASHINGTON —

Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a press conference last month, said the man, Henrry Villatoro Santos, was MS-13’s “leader for the East Coast,” and that he was among the “horrible, violent, worst of the worst criminals.”

Video above: Go inside El Salvador prison where Trump administration is sending alleged gang members

Now, just two weeks later, Trump’s Justice Department, without explanation, moved to dismiss the single federal charge he faced for unlawfully possessing a firearm. In a court filing, prosecutors said only that “the government no longer wishes to pursue the instant prosecution at this time.”

The switch in tactic comes as the Trump administration works to rapidly deport alleged gang members. In March, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives a president broad power to target and remove undocumented immigrants in times of war or when an enemy attempts an “invasion or predatory incursion.”

Villatoro Santos’ lawyer quickly moved to temporarily keep the federal charges pending against his client, saying that if the case were dropped, Villatoro Santos would be “immediately transferred to 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,” defense attorney Muhammad Elsayed wrote to the court.

He cited the ongoing legal battle over Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport more than 200 Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador’s maximum-security mega prison. Elsayed said that “in its rush to prove to the American public that this administration is tough on crime and immigration enforcement,” the government has “wrongfully deported” people and maintains that it has “no obligation” to facilitate their returns.

“The undersigned is keenly aware of the unusual nature of this motion,” he wrote. “But these are unusual times.”

According to court documents unsealed last month in the Eastern District of Virginia, Villatoro Santos was taken into custody on an outstanding administrative immigration warrant. He was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm. Federal agents found several firearms in the residence.

The arrest was executed by a new interagency task force established by the Trump administration to target transnational organized crime and coordinate ongoing immigration enforcement efforts across Virginia. Its creation was part of a crackdown by the Trump administration on foreign gang members residing in the United States.

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