Informants can greatly aid U.S. authorities but still face deportation
Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/19/2010 - 19:27
LOS ANGELES TIMES - Seattle - Ernesto Gamboa was a rare find -- the sort of informant who might come along once or twice in a cop's career.
The 41-year-old Salvadoran auto mechanic assisted police in making hundreds of drug busts in the Pacific Northwest over 14 years.
Armed only with a cellphone, he had a knack for posing as a drug buyer or seller, leading to harrowing transactions between heavily armed traffickers and narcotics agents. For about $10,000 a year, he risked his life time and again, according to those who worked with him. Undercover detectives came to trust him with their own lives.
When his work was done, he faced another peril: deportation.
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