Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national facing serious federal charges for human smuggling, has filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plan to deport him to Uganda.
Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador earlier this year as part of efforts to crack down on suspected gang members and criminals, was brought back to the U.S. in June to face charges of human smuggling in Tennessee.
Abrego Garcia rejected a plea deal offered by the Trump administration that would have allowed him to serve his time in the United States and then be deported to Costa Rica, where officials there have reportedly agreed to take him in. Instead, he chose release, reuniting with his family in Maryland after more than 160 days behind bars, and now faces deportation to Uganda.
The Hill reports:
Abrego Garcia filed a habeas petition in federal court in Maryland, seeking to block his immediate deportation after he was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody Monday morning when he reported for a check-in at ICE’s Baltimore field office.
In the sealed petition, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argue that while the government did provide notice to his counsel Friday that it intends to deport him to Uganda, it did not notify Abrego Garcia himself, as a judge previously ordered.
“And now, the Government has, without forewarning, taken Petitioner into ICE detention based on the notice of removal to Uganda, without providing him an opportunity to be heard on his expressed fears of persecution and torture in that country,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argue in the petition.
In a statement to The Hill, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said his detention is “both unnecessary and cruel.”
“After months of incarceration, he deserves the opportunity to remain safely at home with his family while his claims are fairly considered,” the lawyer said. “Instead, ICE is once again rushing to deport him, potentially to countries where his safety cannot be assured.
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“For this reason, our team has filed a new lawsuit demanding that the government refrain from deporting him anywhere unless and until a court has heard his claim for protection,” he continued. “Justice requires no less.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has confirmed that he will be deported to Uganda.
“President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator to terrorize American citizens any longer,” Noem said.
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