Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who the government says was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, will meet with immigration officials Monday under the looming threat of a second deportation, this time to Uganda.
Abrego’s case — a flashpoint in the Trump administrations crackdown on immigration — is now at a major crossroads.
He was released from federal custody on parole Friday and had a tearful reunion with his family after nearly half a year apart.
But the Trump administration has doubled down on its resolve to deport him, alleging he is a member of the violent gang MS-13 — a claim his attorneys have repeatedly denied.
Abrego had been deported in March in what the White House called an “administrative error,” and after a tedious legal saga, he was returned to the United States in June. But he was immediately detained again, this time on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Minutes after his release, immigration authorities notified Abrego that they intend to deport him to Uganda. Separately, the Trump administration offered him a plea deal that would ensure his eventual deportation to Costa Rica.
On Friday night, the government informed Abrego that he has until “first thing” Monday morning to accept a plea in exchange for deportation to Costa Rica, “or else that offer will be off the table forever,” Abrego’s attorneys wrote in a filing as part of their efforts to get the charges in Tennessee dropped over what they consider to be a “vindictive” and “selective” prosecution.
Here are how Monday’s appointment may play out:
Monday’s ICE check-in
Abrego will have a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore on Monday as part of the conditions of his release from federal custody on parole.
Typically, such an ICE check-in is a brief meeting with an officer from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations to review case status, provide updates and confirm where a person is living. Usually, a person is released until the next scheduled check-in.
But Abrego’s attorneys told NBC News they expect he will be taken into ICE custody during the check-in, given the Trump administration’s notice of its intention to deport him.
A judge ruled in July that the government had to provide 72 hours’ notice, excluding weekends, if it intends to deport Abrego to a third country, which the Justice Department provided Friday afternoon.
Abrego’s lawyers have said he illegally immigrated to the United States when he was 16 to join his brother in Maryland to escape gang violence in El Salvador.
His deportation to El Salvador violated a 2019 court order that protected him from being deported to his home country because of concerns that he’d be persecuted by violent gangs. But that order doesn’t prevent his deportation to any other country.
What may happen from here?
Several paths could unfold from here: Abrego could take the plea deal and eventually be deported to Costa Rica or he could refuse to and be deported to Uganda, or his lawyers could fight Uganda as a deportation option.
If Abrego doesn’t change his plea in the Tennessee federal case, he could be deported to Uganda as soon as Wednesday.
However, Abrego couldn’t face the criminal charges of human smuggling brought against him by Justice Department in that case if he is removed from the country. His trial is set for January in Nashville.
Last week, Uganda agreed to a deal with the United States to take deported migrants, as long as they don’t have criminal records and aren’t unaccompanied minors. Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Uganda prefers that migrants sent there be of African nationalities.
Abrego’s attorneys could also try to prevent his deportation to Uganda altogether and try to convince an immigration judge within 72 hours that he is likely to experience persecution or torture there. An immigration judge would have to agree to prevent his deportation to Uganda.
On Saturday, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego’s attorneys, accused the government of “punishing” Abrego for “exercising his constitutional rights.”
“It is preposterous that they would send him to Africa, to a country where he doesn’t even speak the language, a country with documented human rights violations, when there are so many other options. This family has suffered enough,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said outside Abrego’s brother’s home.
He said they intend to “fight tooth and nail” against deportation to Uganda, South Sudan, Libya and “any other completely ridiculous country that they can come up with.”
What if Abrego takes a plea deal?
Alternatively, Abrego could take a plea deal the Trump administration offered.
That deal would require him to plead guilty to both counts of the criminal indictment against him in Tennessee, serve time and then be deported.
Should Abrego plead guilty or be convicted by a jury, the charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison. Under either scenario, U.S. District Judge Wesley Crenshaw in Nashville would determine how much time he would serve.
If he is eventually deported to Costa Rica, Abrego would be welcomed as a refugee and live as a free man, the Costa Rican government said in a letter one of Abrego’s attorneys submitted to the court as part of the filing in the Tennessee case.
In the filing, attorney Sean Hecker said the Justice Department, Homeland Security and ICE were “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.”
Sandoval-Moshenberg called the Costa Rica plea deal offer “pretty reasonable” Saturday, saying: “Costa Rica makes sense. It’s a Spanish-speaking country. It’s proximate to the United States. His family can visit him there easily.”
Abrego’s case has sparked heated debate and intense scrutiny over the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including the race to deport people — at times without due process — aggressive ICE raids and sordid detainment facility conditions.
