I am unsure, here it says,Then, for unknown reasons, the rape charge collapsed and federal officials halted the deportation process. Gaona was set free.
He was set free so that he could apply for that in-state tuition without consequence
This seems to me to be a clear case of law enforcement protecting an informer. The article all but makes that explicit. Whomever he was informing on will figure it out and likely put his lights out.