A Canadian judge delayed the deportation of a man with MS-13 tattoos who has argued that he would be in danger in El Salvador because of the tattoos.
As the National Post reports, Canadian Judge E. Susan Elliott ordered a new risk assessment for René Pacheco.
The tattoos are also the same reason he was going to be deported from Canada in the first place. Police arrested Pacheco in 2016 for a list of criminal charges and while being interviewed by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) he bragged about being a member of MS-13.
While holding forth on his MS-13 activities he showed the officers his tattoos and related how he had to endure a beating from other MS-13 gang members as an initiation rite. He also told the CBSA about how the MS-13’s Toronto turf included streets in the downtown area. A quick look at his Facebook page also revealed a raft of MS-13 imagery.
The evidence prompted the CBSA to order his deportation but Pacheco immediately denied his MS-13 links and claimed he was under the influence of narcotics when he spoke to authorities.
He appealed that decision to the immigration board and lost. He won a subsequent appeal to Canada’s federal court, who say Pacheo’s tattoos put him “at risk,” and he can now argue his case to stay in Canada.
“I made bad decision [sic] getting these tattoos not knowing that it was going to relate to this,” Pacheco told an immigration board in 2017. “I took as, like, a fashion nowadays. You know, everybody has tattoos, and I made that bad decision of getting these tattoos and not knowing what I was getting.”