On March 11, 2015, in the Matter of Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the United States’ highest administrative body for the interpretation of immigration laws, ruled that Carlos Casanova, a former El Salvadorian defense minister, could be deported for his role in the crimes committed during the El Salvador civil war in the 1980s. Noting sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act that do not permit persons who have committed extrajudicial killings to be admitted to the United States, the Board held that Casanova could be deported  because “through his ‘command responsibility’ in his role as Director of the Salvadoran National Guard and as Minister of Defense of El Salvador, he participated in the commission of particular acts of torture and extrajudicial killing of civilians in El Salvador, in that they took place while he was in command, he was aware of these abuses during or after the fact, and through both his personal interference with investigations and his inaction, he did not hold the perpetrators accountable.” According to one report, the decision sets “a significant human rights precedent” because it “will make it easier to deport foreigners who were top commanders based on violations by soldiers serving under them.”