Attorneys for the
Justice Department signaled the U.S. would deport a former Colombian paramilitary warlord to
Italy within the next two weeks despite a last-minute challenge by the South
American nation to seek his extradition.
The announcement came in a hearing Monday in
Washington, DC federal court in which Salvatore Mancuso was seeking a judge's order to force Attorney General
William Barr to immediately remove him to Italy, where he also has citizenship, after completing a 12-year narcotics sentence in March.
Mancuso, the former top commander of the United Defense Forces of Colombia, known as the AUC, argued that U.S.
immigration and Customs Enforcement have “illegally detained” Mancuso beyond the maximum 90 days allowed for the removal of
aliens, according to a pre-hearing memorandum filed by his attorneys.