Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose arrest and fight to stay in the U.S. has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, reported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore early Monday. He faces deportation proceedings and officials threatened to send him to Uganda.
The Salvadoran national refused a plea deal that would have had him plead guilty to the federal smuggling charges against him, serve time and then deport him to Costa Rica, attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told NBC News.
Abrego will not accept charges on which he is not guilty, the lawyer said.
Abrego’s notice of removal indicates he is expected to be deported to Uganda as soon as Wednesday, unless his attorneys ask for a “withholding of removal” from Uganda and provide evidence on why they believe his life would be in imminent danger in the African nation.
An immigration judge would have to agree for him to be provided with a withholding of removal from Uganda.
Abrego, 30, was released on Friday from a jail in Tennessee, where he had been detained since June after being brought back to the U.S. following his mistaken deportation to El Salvador.
Immigration officials have said they plan to deport Abrego to Uganda, which recently agreed to a deal to accept certain deportees from the U.S.
Abrego returned to his family in Maryland on Friday. Video released by advocates of the reunion showed a room decorated with streamers, flowers and signs. He embraced loved ones and thanked them “for everything.”
Filings in federal court show the Costa Rican government saying Abrego would be welcomed as a legal immigrant and wouldn’t face detention.
In a statement, Justice Department spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said the criminal charges underscore how Abrego presents a “clear danger” and that he can either plead guilty or stand trial.
“Either way, we will hold Abrego Garcia accountable and protect the American people,” Gilmartin said.
Abrego’s case became a flash point in Trump’s immigration agenda after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, despite a judge’s earlier determination that he faced a “well-founded fear” of violence there. Facing a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to the United States in June, only to detain him on human smuggling charges.
He pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss the case, claiming that it is an attempt to punish him for challenging his deportation to El Salvador. The Saturday filing came as a supplement to that motion to dismiss, stating that the threat to deport him to Uganda is more proof that the prosecution is vindictive.
The smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. There were nine passengers in the car, and officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. Abrego was allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
Abrego has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years. Although he was deemed eligible for pretrial release last month, he remained in jail at the request of his attorneys, who feared the Republican administration could try to immediately deport him again if he were freed.
A recent ruling in a separate case in Maryland required ICE to provide 72 hours’ notice before initiating deportation proceedings — time to allow a prospective deportee to mount a defense. An email from ICE sent to attorneys at 4:01 p.m. on Friday refers to that decision.
“Please let this email serve as notice that DHS may remove your client, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, to Uganda no earlier than 72 hours from now (absent weekends),” it states. Uganda recently agreed to take deportees from the U.S., provided they do not have criminal records and are not unaccompanied minors.
Federal officials have argued that Abrego can be deported because he came to the U.S. illegally and because a U.S. immigration judge deemed him eligible for expulsion in 2019, just not to his native El Salvador.
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