NASHVILLE, Tenn. — According to a court filing on Saturday, immigration officials have announced plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he refused a deal to go to Costa Rica. This deal involved staying in jail and admitting to human smuggling charges, which he did not accept.
The option involving Costa Rica arose late Thursday as it seemed imminent that the Salvadoran national would be released from a Tennessee jail the next day. Choosing not to prolong his jail time, Abrego Garcia was released on Friday to join his family in Maryland while awaiting trial. On that same day, the Department of Homeland Security informed his legal team that his deportation to Uganda was imminent and advised him to report to immigration officials on Monday.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers did not provide comments on whether the plea offer was officially withdrawn. The brief they submitted stated only that he refused the section of the offer requiring him to stay in jail, with his lawyers planning to “communicate the government’s proposal to Mr. Abrego.”
His case gained significant attention under President Donald Trump’s immigration policies after his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March. The Trump administration was ordered by the court to return him to the U.S. in June, at which point he was detained again on charges of human smuggling.
Abrego Garcia entered a plea of not guilty and requested the judge to dismiss the case, arguing it is a retaliatory measure for contesting his deportation to El Salvador. The Saturday filing added to his motion to dismiss, arguing that deportation threats to Uganda further demonstrate the prosecution’s vindictiveness.
The filing states, “The government immediately responded to Mr. Abrego’s release with outrage,” underscoring, “Despite obtaining promises from Costa Rica to accept Mr. Abrego, just minutes after his release, ICE notified his legal counsel of plans to deport him to Uganda, instructing him to report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office on Monday morning.”
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges, which stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
A Department of Homeland Security agent testified that he didn’t begin investigating the traffic stop until this April, when the government was facing mounting pressure to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
Although Abrego Garcia was deemed eligible for pretrial release, he had remained in jail at the request of his attorneys, who feared the Republican administration could try to immediately deport him again if he were freed. Those fears were somewhat allayed by a recent ruling in a separate case in Maryland, which requires immigration officials to allow Abrego Garcia time to mount a defense, including 72 hours’ notice before initiating deportation proceedings.
Federal officials have argued that Abrego Garcia can be deported because he came to the U.S. illegally and because a U.S. immigration judge deemed him eligible for expulsion in 2019, just not to his native El Salvador where he faces a “well-founded fear” of violence, according to court filings.
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