Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was detained on Monday after arriving at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Baltimore for a routine check-in only three days after he was released from federal custody in Tennessee. Abrego Garcia had been reunited with his family after 160 days following his mistaken deportation to El Salvador’s mega-prison, CECOT, where he had been tortured. At a hearing Monday afternoon, U.S. district Judge Paula Xinis ordered that Abrego Garcia must remain in the United States, blocking his deportation to Uganda until at least early October.
The ICE check-in in Baltimore was part of the conditions of his release from federal custody. Such meetings are usually routine, however, instances of detaining and deporting immigrants at legal proceedings are already numerous as state terror tactics against immigrants have escalated. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys expected he would again be detained after the Trump administration announced over the weekend its intent to deport him to Uganda. Abrego Garcia has also been offered a plea deal to go to Costa Rica, where officials said he would be given refugee status or legal residency. He would have to plead guilty to human smuggling and accept the sentence that came with it, according to his attorneys.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have accused the Trump administration of trying to coerce a guilty plea through the offer and that he would not accept the plea deal as Abrego Garcia “will not accept charges of which he is not guilty.”
Abrego Garcia filed a new lawsuit in Maryland that seeks to ensure he is not removed from the United States pending proceedings. The lawsuit also asked that he not be allowed to be removed from the United States until he is given proper due process. Judge Xinis ruled that the government is barred from deporting Abrego Garcia until she holds a hearing.
One of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys stated that he has gotten emails from dozens of immigration lawyers saying that similar erroneous and unjustifiable deportations, like Abrego Garcia’s, have happened to their clients. He said that the legal team “thought that Abrego Garcia was sort of a one-of-a-kind case, but it turned out really to just be the tip of the spear.”
Judge Xinis’ hearing in October will feature Trump administration officials’ testimonies to determine whether procedure was followed and if they acted lawfully. Abrego Garcia is supposed to remain in ICE custody and is seeking to renew his bid for asylum.
Photo: Kilmar Abrego Garcia
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