An El Salvador native who helped law enforcement as an informant inside the MS-13 gang has reportedly been deported from the United States.
ProPublica reported that the man, a 19-year-old it identifies as Henry, was deported this month despite warnings that MS-13 gang members would potentially try to kill him.
{mosads}Immigration judge Thomas Mulligan wrote in his decision that he was “very sympathetic” to Henry’s situation and that he found his testimony “truthful,” according to a copy obtained by ProPublica.
But Mulligan ruled that he was required to deport Henry under U.S. and international law, citing his admission that he had participated in two gang-affiliated murders when he was 12 years old.
“[Henry] had a very difficult childhood and was roped into a gang life from a very young age,” Mulligan wrote in a decision from November. He said the court “does not have the discretionary authority to take such humanitarian factors into its consideration.”
Mulligan also could have ruled in favor of the 19-year-old staying in the United States if he determined there was a likelihood he’d be tortured upon his return to El Salvador. But Mulligan determined those chances were less than 50 percent because of efforts taken by El Salvador’s government. Henry had asked to be allowed to stay in the United States under the 1987 United Nations Convention against Torture.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) portrayed Henry as a danger to his community because of his participation in gang killings, according to ProPublica. They also argued that he was only pretending to cooperate with law enforcement.
Mulligan, ProPublica wrote, found these arguments unconvincing but nonetheless determined he did not have the legal discretion to not deport Henry.
ProPublica had previously reported that Henry was forced to join the MS-13 gang twice — in El Salvador and in Long Island, N.Y — and that he participated in multiple murders.
It said Henry had vowed to break with the gang when he arrived in Long Island at 15, but was roped in after MS-13 members reminded him that membership in the gang was for life.
He had tried to escape, and later became an informant in law enforcement’s efforts to arrest certain MS-13 members.
But the news outlet said that a FBI gang task force handler in Long Island broke a promise to assist him. It added that police turned over his immigration file to ICE.
ICE later detained Henry, identifying him as an informant and placing him in jail.
ProPublica noted that Henry’s family encouraged Henry to appeal the ruling. But Henry, who was growing fearful that his life was at risk at a New Jersey detention center, elected not to pursue that route and was deported on Jan. 10.
His attorney, Bryan Johnson, told ProPublica that he arranged a team to get Henry on a flight to Europe as soon as he arrived at an airport in El Salvador. He is now seeking asylum in a European city.