A controversial prison housing agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador appears to be driving the Trump administration’s unusual effort to dismiss terrorism charges against a high-ranking MS-13 gang leader. Court documents unsealed this week reveal federal prosecutors are seeking to deport Vladimir Antonio Arevalo-Chavez rather than pursue the serious charges he faces in New York.
The case has exposed the complex and sometimes troubling relationship between immigration policy, international diplomacy, and criminal justice. Arevalo-Chavez, who serves on MS-13’s “Ranfla Nacional” leadership council, faces charges including racketeering, terrorism, and narco-terrorism conspiracy.
According to Justice Department records, Arevalo-Chavez possesses detailed knowledge of a secret 2019 agreement between Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s government and MS-13. This pact allegedly involved the Bukele administration providing financial incentives and territorial concessions to the gang in exchange for reduced violence and electoral support.
The deportation effort appears connected to a broader deal allowing the U.S. to house immigrants in El Salvador’s maximum-security Cecot prison. Political science professor Michael Ahn Paarlberg didn’t mince words about the implications: “This is collusion between two governments to cover up a gang pact by dropping charges on known gangsters.”
In their filing, prosecutors cited “sensitive and important foreign policy considerations” and “geopolitical and national security concerns” as justification for the unusual dismissal – language that critics say reveals the political nature of the decision.
This isn’t the first such case. In March, another MS-13 leader, Cesar Humberto López-Larios, had his charges quietly dismissed before being deported to El Salvador. Both men reportedly possessed information about Bukele’s secret negotiations with the criminal organization that could prove embarrassing to a key U.S. ally in Central America.