Immigration officials said Saturday they intend to deport MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, after he rejected an offer to instead be deported to Costa Rica in exchange for pleading guilty to human smuggling charges.
According to a brief filed in Tennessee federal court, the Costa Rica deal was offered late Thursday and required Abrego Garcia to remain in jail while serving his sentence. After his release from jail Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) informed his attorneys that deportation to Uganda was now the plan.
“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 morning,” the brief said.
Costa Rica Option
Court documents included a letter from the Costa Rican government stating it would accept Abrego Garcia as a legal immigrant with no risk of detention. The benefit, his attorneys argued, is that Costa Rica is a Spanish-speaking country, unlike Uganda, which recently agreed to take U.S. deportees under certain conditions.
However, Abrego Garcia would only have been deported to Costa Rica after serving time on his human smuggling charges.
Case Background
Abrego Garcia’s case has become a flashpoint in Trump’s immigration crackdown.
He was deported to El Salvador in March.
Facing a court order, the Trump administration returned him to the U.S. in June, only to detain him again on human smuggling charges.
He has pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss the charges, claiming the prosecution is politically motivated retaliation.
The smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, where nine passengers were found in his car. Although police initially let him go with only a warning, DHS agents later pursued charges in April.
Family and Legal Battles
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years after entering the U.S. illegally in 2011. He was deemed eligible for pretrial release last month but remained jailed at his attorneys’ request out of fear the Trump administration would deport him immediately.
A Maryland court ruling recently required ICE to give 72 hours’ notice before deportations, leading ICE to send an email at 4:01 p.m. Friday notifying his attorneys that he could be deported to Uganda after the 72-hour period.
What’s Next
Federal officials argue Abrego Garcia remains deportable because he entered the U.S. illegally and was deemed eligible for expulsion in 2019 — just not to El Salvador.
His attorneys now claim the Uganda deportation threat is further proof of “vindictive prosecution.”
Abrego Garcia is expected to report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office on Monday morning.
Good send the criminal to Uganda, seems to be a great place for him to learn a few things about how to behave.