Typically, when a foreign national finishes serving a prison sentence in the US, they are deported to their home country. Newly released court filings, however, reveal that a woman who served 10 years in prison for drug trafficking has been avoiding subsequent deportation by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency as a paid informant for the past twelve years.
“CI#1” has been cooperating for “pay and to avoid deportation,” a footnote on the document states.
The filings detail how the unnamed woman set up a drug deal for the DEA with a trafficking organization in Panama to have kilograms of cocaine sent to a New York port in cargo containers. She reported, recorded conversations with members of the drug ring, and met with several traffickers. The information provided by her was corroborated by “independent evidence, including consensually recorded telephone calls, surveillance and recorded meetings.”
In April, another DEA informant, 66-year-old Carlos Toro, made headlines when he came forward to the media to tell his story.
Toro worked with the Agency as an informant for 27 years and is now facing deportation that would lead to his certain death. The Agency previously promised him they would help him gain legal status as a US citizen once his work with them was over.
"Twenty-seven years of service and I have to beg," Toro told CBS News. "I put my life on the line for them."
Toro helped take down some of the largest cartels all over the world, and fears that if he is deported he will be targeted for his cooperation.
"The United States government has sentenced me to death," Toro told CBS. "I was loyal to them. I worked for them. I risked my life for them, and this is how they pay me?"
