The U.S. government is dropping a criminal case against a man accused of being a top MS-13 leader and is now planning to deport him instead.

Henrry Jose Villatoro Santos, a Salvadoran national living in Virginia, was charged only with illegal gun possession in federal court after agents found firearms and ammunition in his bedroom. According to court documents, agents recovered a Taurus 9 mm pistol, three other firearms, ammo, and two suppressors during a search of his home in Woodbridge, Virginia, reports Fox News.

“As a terrorist, he will now face the removal process,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News on Wednesday night.

ALERT: The situation escalates

Henrry Villatoro Santos’s defense lawyer intervenes… wants dismissal of criminal case delayed

Accuses Attorney General and DOJ of “breathless pronouncements” and “massive publicity” in the case https://t.co/ZAtrwf2m0C pic.twitter.com/MMyeBvEwJW

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) April 10, 2025

In a separate motion filed the same day, Villatoro Santos’ new attorney, Muhammed Sayed, stated that “the Government now intends to pursue the deportation of Mr. Villatoro Santos in lieu of prosecution.”

“The above is a fairly straightforward procedural history,” Sayed wrote. “But in the background of this routine legal process, the United States government, at its highest levels, has been publicly and loudly propagating allegations that Mr. Villatoro Santos ‘is one of the top leaders of MS-13’ and ‘one of the leaders for the East Coast, one of the top in the entire country,’ claims made by Attorney General Pam Bondi at a high-level press conference on March 27, 2025.”

REPORT: Prosecutors say illegal Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, 24, is one of three U.S. leaders of the MS-13 gang

The FBI recovered multiple firearms, ammo, and silencers from his mother’s house

Santos was found hiding in an alcove near the garage

SWAT teams used stun grenades… pic.twitter.com/hr3AJZIa3H

— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) April 1, 2025

That press conference featured Bondi alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.

“They executed a clean, safe operation, and the bad guy is in custody. And thanks to the FBI, we got one of the worst of the worst of the MS-13 off the streets this morning. Virginia and the country is a lot safer today,” Bondi told Fox News after the arrest.

Despite the serious public statements, the Justice Department now appears to be shifting away from prosecuting Santos and instead relying on deportation. The defense motion notes the plan to remove him based on an ICE detainer.

Sayed warned in the court filing that there’s “substantial” risk his client could be sent to El Salvador without due process and locked up in a notorious prison.

“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 case,” Sayed wrote.

The case also comes just weeks after the Trump administration mistakenly deported another Salvadoran man, Kilmar Abrego Garci, who had protected legal status. He was removed from Maryland on a flight with others suspected of gang ties and sent to El Salvador’s “Terrorism Confinement Center.”

“These examples are now becoming an everyday occurrence,” Sayed said, referencing the Abrego Garci case.

Villatoro Santos’ legal team has asked for a delay in the dismissal order so he can find an immigration attorney to help fight the deportation.