NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In a court filing on Saturday, immigration officials stated that they want to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he refused to be deported to Costa Rica in exchange for staying in custody and entering a guilty plea to charges of human smuggling.
After it became apparent that the Salvadoran national would probably be released from a Tennessee jail the next day, the Costa Rica offer was made late Thursday. Abrego Garcia was freed on Friday to wait for his trial in Maryland with his family after refusing to have his incarceration prolonged.
His lawyers were informed later that day by the Department of Homeland Security that he would be sent to Uganda and would have to appear before immigration officials on Monday.
Regarding whether the plea deal had been properly withdrawn, his lawyers remained silent. Abrego Garcia had rejected a portion of the offer to stay in jail, according to the brief they submitted, and his lawyers would inform Mr. Abrego of the government’s request.
After Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported in March, his story became a focal point of President Trump’s immigration policy. The Trump government detained him on suspicion of transporting undocumented migrants throughout the United States after bringing him back to the country in June in response to a court order.
In an effort to punish him for contesting his deportation to El Salvador, he has entered a not guilty plea and requested that the judge dismiss the case. The threat to deport him to Uganda is more evidence that the prosecution is retaliatory, according to the Saturday filing, which was made in support of that petition to dismiss.
According to the petition, the administration was outraged and reacted quickly to Mr. Abrego’s release. Within minutes of Mr. Abrego’s release from pretrial custody, an ICE representative told his attorney that the government planned to deport him to Uganda, despite the fact that he had asked and been assured by the Costa Rican government that he would be accepted there. He was also instructed to report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office on Monday morning.
Abrego Garcia was considered eligible for pretrial release, but his lawyers wanted him to stay behind bars because they were concerned that the Republican government may try to deport him again right away if he was released.
A recent decision in a different Maryland case that mandates immigration officials give Abrego Garcia time to present a defense helped to ease some of those concerns.
