The Justice Department is withdrawing its case against a Virginia man accused of being a top leader in the MS-13 gang.

In a court filing Wednesday in northern Virginia, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia asked a judge to dismiss the criminal complaint pending against defendant Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, according to CBS News. 

Villatoro Santos, a purported El Salvadoran national, was arrested last month on a single felony gun possession charge.

His arrest was announced in a nationally televised press conference in which Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Villatoro Santos of being the "East Coast leader" of the transnational gang. 

The department did not provide details about why it moved to drop the case. But Bondi later said Villatoro Santos “will now face the removal process,” meaning he will likely be deported. 

Villatoro Santos' attorney has requested that the court delay dismissing the case against his client for at least two weeks. He argued the dismissal would result in Villatoro Santos being deported to a prison in El Salvador with no due process.