Ramos was born in El Salvador, where he was raised by his grandmother. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2008 that Ramos illegally entered the United States when he was 13 to live with his mother and two siblings,[1] but later reports suggested that Ramos was a legal immigrant whose visa expired.[3][4] In 2003, Ramos’s mother reported him missing, and Ramos returned 11 days after his mother reported.[5] On October 22 that year, Ramos was also one of three MS-13 members suspected of assaulting a man on a Muni bus for claiming not to be a gang member. Juvenile Court convicted Ramos of assault and street gang membership and put him in a shelter. On probation, Ramos was released to his mother’s custody on April 2, 2004, but four days later he assaulted a pregnant woman and her brother. Ramos was convicted of attempted robbery, a felony offense, but was cleared of assault and served probation at the city-run Log Cabin Ranch where he lived from June 2004 to February 2005. (“The purpose of the facility is to provide a twenty-four-hour-a-day residential program for juveniles of San Francisco who have been adjudicated delinquent by the Juvenile Courts and sent to Log Cabin for treatment and rehabilitation.”[6])
After his release, he lived with his mother’s sister. He applied for temporary residency but was declined; by then federal authorities had learned that Ramos was in the U.S. illegally.
In 2006, former MS-13 leader turned informant Jaime Martinez told the FBI that Ramos killed 21-year-old Norteño gang member Rolando “Chino” Valldares in the Mission District of San Francisco.[7]
Having been a member of the 20th Street MS-13 gang in San Francisco, Ramos later moved to El Sobrante and joined MS-13 ally Pasadena Loco Sureños (PLS).[5] On March 30, 2008, Ramos was arrested after police discovered his car had illegally tinted windows, no license plate, and a passenger named Erick Lopez who tried to conceal a gun that police found was used in a double killing. According to the police report, Ramos cooperated with police, but Lopez ran away but was later caught and arrested. Police had “numerous documented contacts” with Ramos and Lopez and identified both as active MS-13 gang members. Prosecutors declined to charge Ramos due to lack of evidence that he knew about the gun. San Francisco sheriff’s deputies called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to determine if the department wanted to hold Ramos in custody, but ICE declined.[1][8]
