The Trump administration is seeking to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he rejected a plea deal that would have sent him to Costa Rica, his attorneys told a court Saturday.
Abrego Garcia, 30, was released Friday from a Tennessee jail after a federal magistrate ruled he could await trial under electronic monitoring and home detention. His case has drawn national attention after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March despite a 2019 immigration court order blocking his return there.
Deportation Threats Continue
Court filings show Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ordered Abrego Garcia to report to an immigration facility in Baltimore on Monday, where his attorneys fear he could be deported again. The administration has told him he must accept the Costa Rica deal or face removal to Uganda.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration “will not stop fighting until he’s out of the U.S.”
Flight From El Salvador
Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador at age 16 after gangs extorted and terrorized his family. He settled in Maryland, found work in construction, and later started a family with his partner, Jennifer Vasquez Sura.
In 2019, he was detained outside a Home Depot in Tennessee on suspicion of MS-13 ties. Police never charged him, but turned him over to ICE. A judge later denied his asylum claim on a technicality but barred deportation to El Salvador, ruling he faced a “well-founded fear” of persecution there.
Despite that order, the Trump administration deported him to El Salvador in March, later admitting it was an “administrative error.” Abrego Garcia alleged he was beaten and psychologically tortured in prison there before a Supreme Court order forced the U.S. to bring him back in June.
Human Smuggling Charges
Upon his return, prosecutors charged him with human smuggling tied to a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, when he was found driving with nine passengers. He pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue the case amounts to “vindictive and selective prosecution.”
While awaiting trial, Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes granted release in June, but Abrego Garcia remained jailed for 11 more weeks at his attorneys’ request over fears ICE would immediately deport him.
Judicial Safeguards
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland has since ordered ICE to provide at least three days’ notice before beginning any removal proceedings and required the process to take place in Baltimore.
On Friday, Holmes ordered Abrego Garcia released under strict conditions, including electronic monitoring and home confinement at his brother’s house in Maryland.
In a statement, Abrego Garcia said seeing his family after five months apart was a relief. “We are steps closer to justice, but justice has not been fully served,” he said.
