The US government under President Donald Trump is planning a second deportation for a Salvadoran man who was illegally deported and then sent back to the United States during a fierce row over the White House’s hardline immigration policies.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was released from a Tennessee jail on Friday, is now facing deportation to the East African country of Uganda, according to court documents shared by his lawyers on Saturday.
Abrego Garcia turned down a deal to be sent to Costa Rica if he pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges. Now the administration has requested his appearance at an immigration facility in Baltimore on Monday, at which point he would be facing a second deportation.
Why does the Trump administration care so much about Abrego Garcia?
The case of Abrego Garcia has been a messy ordeal for the government. He was initially swept up as part of Trump’s war on undocumented migrants.
Abrego Garcia has a US wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years. However, he immigrated to the United States illegally.
The White House depicted him as a member of the violent MS-13 gang and a people smuggler, justifying his deportation to a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador.
However, Abrego Garcia was under a court protection, issued in 2019, saying that he faced “well-founded fears” of violence if he was returned to his home country.
The US Supreme Court ordered the US government to “facilitate” his return after the Trump administration admitted it had sent him there by mistake.
He was returned in June, and then detained and charged with smuggling undocumented migrants. On Friday, he was released from the Putnam County Jail in Cookville, Tennessee, on the basis of a judge’s order.
Abrego Garcia sees family again for first time in over 160 days
The legal struggle over Abrego Garcia’s future has turned him, to some extent, into the face of those impacted by Trump’s hardline immigrant policies.
His lawyers have called the government’s continued pursuit of their client a vindictive attempt to punish his challenging of the original deportation.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reacted with anger over his release on Friday, saying the administration will continue until “this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country.”
At the same time, migrant rights organization CASA released a statement quoting Abrego Garcia as saying it was a “very special day” after seeing his family for the first time in almost six months.
“We are steps closer to justice, but justice has not been fully served,” Abrego Garcia said, according to CASA, which described him as a “symbol of strength, resistance and hope.”
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
