Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal migrant who was previously wrongly deported by the Trump administration, has once again been detained by U.S. immigration authorities after being released from a Salvadorian mega-prison.
Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March before being returned to the U.S., was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Baltimore on Monday.
ICE is now “processing him for deportation,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed in a post on X.
According to his attorneys, the government intends to send Abrego Garcia to Uganda.
Back in 2019, a judge ruled that Abrego Garcia — who entered the U.S. illegally — should not be deported, citing the risk of harm in his home country. Despite that decision, during President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants, he was among more than 200 people sent to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot mega-prison.
After Justice Department lawyers admitted his deportation had been unlawful, Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S., only to be detained again in Tennessee on human smuggling charges.
He was released last Friday and allowed to return to his home in Maryland while awaiting trial. As part of his release conditions, he was required to check in with ICE in Baltimore on Monday.
However, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, said that instead of a routine interview, his client was taken back into custody.
“The notice stated that the reason was an interview,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “Clearly that was false. He was already on electronic monitoring and essentially under house arrest. The only reason they’ve taken him back into ICE detention is to punish him.”
Later that day, a federal judge said she would ensure Abrego Garcia is not removed from the U.S. while she reviews a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s attempt to deport him to Uganda.
Following his re-arrest, his legal team filed a lawsuit urging U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to order his release and slow the removal process. Judge Xinis responded that the government would be “absolutely forbidden to remove Abrego Garcia from the continental United States,” though she did not specify how long that order would stand.
The effort to deport him to Uganda adds another layer to a case that has become a high-profile test of Trump’s immigration enforcement. Officials allege he is a violent MS-13 member who smuggled other undocumented migrants into the country — charges Abrego Garcia strongly denies.
Last Thursday, anticipating his release, government officials reportedly offered him a plea deal: remain in custody, plead guilty to human smuggling, and accept deportation to Costa Rica. He rejected the offer.
