Kilmar Abrego Garcia walks, as he has been launched from the Putnam County Jail in Cookville, Tennessee, U.S., August 22, 2025.
Seth Herald | Reuters
U.S. immigration officers have notified Kilmar Abrego Garcia of their intent to deport him to Uganda, his attorneys stated in a Saturday submitting that accuses the federal government of pressuring Abrego Garcia to simply accept a plea deal.
The transfer comes after Abrego Garcia, who in March was wrongfully deported to an notorious jail in El Salvador, was launched from a jail close to Nashville, Tennessee on Friday. He had been held there since he was returned to the US in June to face federal human smuggling expenses, which he denies.
Within the new submitting, Abrego Garcia’s legal professionals say that the Trump administration provided on Thursday to deport him to Costa Rica, after serving any sentence imposed by the courtroom, if he agreed to stay in jail till Monday and plead responsible to each counts within the felony indictment.
Abrego Garcia declined to lengthen his keep. His attorneys write that “inside minutes of his launch” on Friday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement consultant knowledgeable them that “the federal government supposed to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda,” ordering him to report back to ICE’s workplace in Baltimore on Monday morning.
His attorneys allege that the Trump administration is successfully forcing Abrego Garcia to decide on between pleading responsible and being deported to Costa Rica, or being deported to Uganda.
“On Friday night, the federal government knowledgeable Mr. Abrego that he has till very first thing Monday morning—exactly when he should report back to ICE’s Baltimore Subject Workplace—to simply accept a plea in alternate for deportation to Costa Rica, or else that supply will likely be off the desk eternally,” his attorneys say.
“There might be just one interpretation of those occasions: the DOJ, DHS, and ICE are are utilizing their collective powers to power Mr. Abrego to decide on between a responsible plea adopted by relative security, or rendition to Uganda, the place his security and liberty could be underneath risk,” Abrego Garcia’s legal professionals write.
His attorneys say within the submitting that the administration’s risk of deportation to Uganda helps their movement to dismiss the smuggling expenses on account of vindictive and selective prosecution.
The Division of Homeland Safety didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for touch upon the brand new submitting.
Abrego Garcia was detained by ICE on March 12 and deported to the infamous CECOT jail in El Salvador three days later in what the Trump administration has since referred to as an “administrative error.”
A U.S. choose in 2019 barred Abrego Garcia from being deported to El Salvador due to considerations that he could be persecuted there.
Abrego Garcia’s case has grow to be a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s strict immigration playbook. The administration has alleged that Abrego Garcia has ties to the infamous MS-13 gang, an accusation that he denies.
A trial on the federal human smuggling expenses is scheduled for January.