23.8.2025
Immigration officials say they might deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda just days after he was released from a Tennessee jail pending his trial on human smuggling charges.
He originally declined an offer to be sent to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to the human smuggling charges. The offer came late Thursday after it was clear he would be released from jail Friday to await trial with his family in Maryland.
The Department of Homeland Security told his attorneys Friday that he should report to immigration authorities on Monday and be prepared to be sent to Uganda.
“Let this email serve as notice that DHS may remove your client, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, to Uganda no earlier than 72 hours from now (absent weekends),” his attorneys were told.
Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case was thrust into the public eye after he was placed on a deportation flight to El Salvador in March. The planes contained Venezuelan and Salvadoran migrants as part of the Trump administration’s initial crackdown on illegal immigrants in the country.
He was ordered deported in 2019 but had been set free because an immigration judge said he faced persecution from a gang if he was sent back to his home country of El Salvador. Despite that, he was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deported.
A Justice Department lawyer who said his deportation was a mistake was promptly fired.
When faced with questions over booting Mr. Abrego Garcia, the Trump administration doubled down, saying he’s still in the country illegally.
The administration reinvestigated a previous case where Mr. Abrego Garcia was caught transporting what police believed to be migrants in 2022. The Justice Department won an indictment on smuggling charges, then brought Mr. Abrego Garcia back in June and asked that he be jailed in Tennessee, where the case was brought. AP
Abrego Garcia (middle) facing fresh deportation threats