Pedro Pimentel Rios, Southern California Man, to be Deported Over 1982 Massacre in Guatemala

In this photo released by Guatemala's Presidential Press Office, soldiers patrol in Coban, Guatemala, Sunday Dec. 19, 2010. The Guatemalan military declared Sunday a state of siege for 30 days in the northern Alta Verapaz province to reclaim cities that have been overtaken by Mexican drug traffickers, according to authorities. A state of siege allows the army to detain suspects without warrants, conduct warrantless searches, prohibit gun possession and public gatherings, and control the local news media. (AP Photo/Guatemala Presidential Press Office) (AP2010)

A brutal 1982 massacre in the village of Dos Erres in Guatemala is regarded as one of the most savage events during the country's more than three-decade civil war.

The war claimed at least 200,000 lives before it ended in 1996, but it was the Dos Erres massacre, where commandos entered the village looking for weapons and systematically killed men, women and children, according to court documents, that has drawn international ire.

It was amid this backdrop that a federal immigration judge ordered the deportation of Pedro Pimentel Rios. The Santa Ana, California, who is 54 years old, is accused of taking part in the atrocities on that fateful December day.

Pimentel Rios was part of a special military unit known as the "kaibiles," who killed 250 people and allegedly bludgeoned villagers with a sledgehammer, threw them down a well, and raped women and girls before killing them, Spanish court papers say.

He was one of three former kaibiles arrested by U.S. authorities on alleged immigration violations who are suspected to have involvement in the massacre.

Jorge Sosa Orantes also has legal challenges ahead of him. A two-day extradition hearing in Canada has been set for this summer, where Orantes hopes to fight the bid by the state of California to have him returned and face the charges.

Pimentel Rios has the option of appealing the deportation order to the Board of Immigration Appeals. He had been living in the U.S. for years and applied for asylum.

Pimentel Rios, his attorney said, "had been living a quiet life as a maintenance person," the Los Angeles Times reported.

Contact Adrian Carrasquillo at Adrian.Carrasquillo@foxnewslatino.com or on Twitter @RealAdrianC.