Ábrego García, who was released last week from a jail in Tennessee, where he is facing human smuggling charges, and allowed to go home to Maryland pending trial, “will be processed for removal to Uganda,” the homeland security department said.

The attempt to deport Ábrego García to Uganda adds a new twist to a saga that became a flashpoint for Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration — and, critics say, his trampling of the law.

Who is Kilmar Ábrego García?

But justice department lawyers admitted the Salvadoran had been wrongly deported due to an “administrative error”. He was returned to US soil only to be detained again in Tennessee on human smuggling charges.

Why has Ábrego García’s case become so significant?

Ábrego García denies any wrongdoing, while the Trump administration alleges he is a violent MS-13 gang member involved in smuggling of other undocumented migrants.

Right-wing supporters praise the Republican president’s toughness, but legal scholars and human rights advocates have criticised what they say is a haphazard rush to deport people without even a court hearing, in violation of basic US law.

What are the latest developments ?

He declined the offer.

Protesters gathered outside the ICE field office to show their support for Kilmar Ábrego García and voice their opposition to his deportation. Source: SIPA USA / Robyn Stevens Brody

Ábrego García was required to check in with ICE in Baltimore on Monday as one of the conditions of his release.