Aug. 25 (UPI) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Baltimore man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador earlier this year, was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody Monday.
Abrego Garcia went to the Baltimore ICE office Monday for an immigration check-in, which was part of his condition of release from federal custody, his attorney said.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said they expected he would be taken into ICE custody during the check-in after the Trump administration announced over the weekend its intention to deport him to Uganda.
“There was no need to take him into ICE detention. … The only reason they took him into detention was to punish him,” for using his constitutional right to speak up and fight proceedings, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, said Monday morning.
Abrego Garcia was reunited with his family last week after 160 days of separation. He now faces deportation to Uganda while he awaits trial for a human trafficking charge in Tennessee.
Supporters held a vigil outside the ICE office ahead of his check-in.
He had declined a plea deal that would have allowed him to “live freely” in Costa Rica after serving prison time in exchange for a guilty plea for federal human smuggling charges.
The Department of Homeland Security now wants to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda, one of the latest countries with a deal with the Trump administration to accept deportees.
“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 brought back to the U.S. from a detention center in El Salvador to face human trafficking charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop. He was pulled over in Tennessee for speeding and was seen transporting men without luggage.
Abrego Garcia has denied wrongdoing and his legal team has tried to get the case dismissed, arguing the charges were the result of a vindictive and selective prosecution.
While he initially entered the country illegally, Abrego Garcia was protected from deportation by a 2019 ruling from an immigration judge that prohibited his return to his native El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia is married to a U.S. citizen, and together they have a child who is a U.S. citizen.
Before going into his ICE appointment on Monday morning he spoke to a crowd, surrounded by family, supporters, faith leaders and his legal team, who were all calling for his freedom.
“My name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and I want you to remember this, remember that I am free and I was able to be reunited with my family,” he said in Spanish before a translator repeated in English.
“This was a miracle. Thank you to God and thank you to the community,” Abrego Garcia added. “I want to thank each and every one of you who marched, lift your voices, never stop praying and continue to fight in my name.”
He said lawyers asked ICE officers why Abrego Garcia was taken into custody but they would not answer. The ICE officers would also not give information about where he is going, Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
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