Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who 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 on 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 Abrego, 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, was returned to the U.S. 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 Abrego a plea deal that ensures 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 ICE check-ins are brief meetings 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 their intent 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 on Friday afternoon.
Abrego’s lawyers have said he illegally immigrated to the U.S. 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 due to 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?
There are several paths that could unfold from here: Abrego could take the plea deal and eventually be deported to Costa Rica, he could refuse to and be deported to Uganda, or his lawyers could fight against Uganda as a deportation option.
If Abrego does not change his plea in the Tennessee federal case, he could be deported from the U.S. to Uganda as soon as Wednesday.
However, Abrego could not face the criminal charges of human smuggling brought against him by Department of Justice 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 U.S. to take deported migrants, as long as they don’t have criminal records and are not unaccompanied minors. Uganda’s foreign ministry said the nation 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 Abrego is likely to experience persecution or torture there. An immigration judge would have to agree to prevent his deportation to the African nation.
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 offered by the Trump administration earlier this week.
That deal requires him to plead guilty to both counts of the criminal indictment against him in Tennessee, serve time, and then be deported.
Should he plead guilty or be convicted by a jury, the charges against Abrego carry a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison. Under either scenario, U.S. District Judge Wesley Crenshaw in Nashville will determine how much time Abrego will serve.
If 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 submitted to the court by one of Abrego’s attorneys as part of the filing in the Tennessee case.
In that filing, attorney Sean Hecker said that the Department of Justice, 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 on Saturday called the Costa Rica plea deal offer “pretty reasonable,” noting “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.
