Aug. 23 (UPI) — A day after his release from custody, Kilmar Abrego Garcia faces the possibility of being deported to Uganda, lawyers for the El Salvadoran national said in a court filing Saturday.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers claim the federal government is pushing their client to accept a guilty plea in relation to human trafficking charges in Tennessee, or face deportation to the African nation. He was born in El Salvador, immigrated to the United States as a teenager around 2011 and violated a 2019 court order that protected him from deportation.
On Friday, a federal magistrate judge released Abrego Garcia from custody while he awaits trial for the Tennessee incident.
He was then immediately ordered to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Baltimore.
The judge ordered the federal government to give the 30-year-old at least 72 hours notice before undertaking deportation proceedings to give his lawyers a chance to file a legal challenge.
“Despite having requested and received assurances from the government of Costa Rica that Mr. Abrego would be accepted there, within minutes of his release from pretrial custody, an ICE representative informed Mr. Abrego’s counsel that the government intended to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda and ordered him to report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office Monday,” lawyers said in their court filing.
“There can be only one interpretation of these events: the DOJ, DHS, and ICE are using their collective powers to force Mr. Abrego to choose between a guilty plea followed by relative safety, or rendition to Uganda, where his safety and liberty would be under threat.”
Abrego Garcia was initially deported to El Salvador this past March after federal officials accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang and illegally entered the United States in 2011.
The move came amid President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on illegal immigration across the country.
The Trump administration later admitted Abrego Garcia’s deportation was due to an administrative error.
He was later returned to the United States after his case became national news, leading people to advocate for his repatriation, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen Jr., D-Md. Abrego Garcia lives in Baltimore with his wife and children.
He has been held in custody since returning to the United States in relation to the 2022 human trafficking charges in Tennessee.
Federal officials have promised to deport him to Costa Rica in exchange for a guilty plea, but have said that offer will be rescinded shortly if Abrego Garcia doesn’t make a deal.