Attorneys for a Virginia man labeled by the Trump administration as a top MS-13 gang leader are pressing a judge to hold off on dismissing his criminal case, arguing he could be deported without ever hearing — or defending himself against — the specific allegations against him.

Henrry Villatoro Santos's arrest was announced last month in a nationally televised news conference featuring the attorney general, who accused Villatoro Santos of being the "East Coast leader" of the infamous MS-13 transnational gang. He was accused of responsibility for violent crimes and helping lead the gang's criminal attacks throughout the U.S.

Villatoro Santos's criminal case has morphed into a unique paradox: Justice Department prosecutors want his case dismissed. And it's Villatoro Santos fighting to keep his case alive.

Villatoro Santos remains in pretrial jail and faces a federal felony gun possession charge in Virginia. But the Justice Department has yet to provide any of the details of his alleged MS-13 crimes. Instead the government is pressing a magistrate judge to dismiss Villatoro Santos's case so that administration officials can instead deport him out of the United States.

The defendant has filed a motion asking a judge to block the dismissal of the case. Though the judge denied Villatoro Santos's request, he has agreed to pause his ruling to allow for an appeal. Villatoro Santos will remain in U.S. Marshals' custody pending his appeal. He has been held in an Alexandria, Virginia, jail.

Villatoro Santos's defense attorney argues the Trump administration appears to be preparing to deport Villatoro Santos without due process.

In a Wednesday court filing , defense attorney Muhammad Elsayed wrote he is concerned the administration will "immediately and summarily deport Mr. Villatoro Santos to El Salvador in violation of the law, in violation of the Constitution, and in violation of the Supreme Court's most recent decisions reaffirming the right of immigrants to notice and an opportunity to be heard prior to removal."

He also argues, "This risk is not an imaginary or speculative one: multiple statements by high level government officials about Mr. Villatoro Santos strongly indicate the Government may intend to immediately deport him upon dismissal of his case, without notice and a hearing in immigration court."

His attorney also argues that there appears to be no due process hearings planned. His filing said, "To date, the Department of Homeland Security has not issued a Notice to Appear to Mr. Villatoro Santos, which is the first step in legal removal proceedings."

Villatoro Santos's lawyers argued in a filing that if he's deported, "there is no doubt" he'll be sent to a notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has sent hundreds of Salvadoran and Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members.

Multiple legal battles over deportations

In a separate case, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union have alleged that a group of would-be deportees have been relocated to a detention facility in Texas for a potentially imminent deportation under the rarely-used Alien Enemies Act emergency power, used in the March 15 deportation flights of Venezuelan nationals.

In his court filing this week, his defense attorney noted the high-profile publicity of Villatoro Santos's case. The filing said, "Beginning on March 27, multiple top government officials have publicly accused Mr. Villatoro Santos of being 'one of the top leaders of MS-13' and 'one of the leaders for the East Coast, one of the top three in the entire country,' claims made by Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a high-profile press conference on March 27, 2025. They called him a "terrorist" and "horrible, violent, worst of the worst criminals."

Bondi did not directly answer when asked, at a Wednesday news conference, why the Justice Department has not publicly released evidence in the case against Villatoro Santos. The Justice Department also did not respond to requests from CBS News for details about Villatoro Santos's alleged MS-13-related crimes.

The March 27 news conference in which Villatoro Santos's case was announced featured statements by Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin. It was held at a federal law enforcement facility in Manassas, Virginia, and was championed as an announcement of a takedown of a leading MS-13 figure. The arrest of Villatoro Santos was filmed and access to information about the arrest was given in advance to FOX News, a cable network for which Bondi was previously a frequent analyst and guest.

Bondi, Patel and Younkin did not release Villatoro Santos's name publicly during the news conference, nor did they offer any specifics, when asked by reporters about the nature or details of Villatoro Santos's alleged MS-13 leadership role or crimes.

Charging documents in his criminal case make only one fleeting reference to MS-13. An immigration officer's affidavit said, "FBI agents and TFOs also observed indicia of MS-13 association in the garage bedroom" of Villatoro-Santos's home.

He is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm. The magistrate judge who initially agreed to the Justice Department's request to dismiss the case has "stayed" his ruling as Villatoro Santos appeals to a higher-level judge in Alexandria, Virginia, seeking to reject the dismissal. More court hearings are expected in the coming days.

Scott MacFarlane is CBS News' Justice correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting has resulted directly in the passage of five new laws.