Wrongfully Deported Salvadoran Man Detained Again, Faces Possible Removal to Uganda

By Staff, Agencies

A Salvadoran man whose mistaken deportation drew national attention amid former President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has been detained again by U.S. authorities and now faces possible removal to Uganda.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 30, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Baltimore on Monday after appearing for a scheduled check-in — a condition of his release from criminal custody in Tennessee just days earlier.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that ICE is “processing him for deportation.”

Abrego’s attorneys say the government’s handling of his case highlights Trump’s aggressive immigration policies and disregard for due process.

A U.S. immigration court ruled in 2019 that Abrego should not be sent back to El Salvador due to threats from violent gangs.

Nonetheless, he was wrongly deported there in March, then returned to the United States in June to face federal charges of transporting undocumented migrants. He has pleaded not guilty.

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego’s lawyers, called Monday’s detention a punitive move. “He was already on electronic monitoring and essentially under house arrest,” he said. “They misled him into believing it was just an interview.”

The Trump administration claims Abrego is a violent MS-13 gang member and migrant smuggler.

His lawyers dispute those allegations, warning that U.S. officials are pressuring him to plead guilty by offering deportation to Costa Rica while threatening removal to Uganda — a country with no ties to him and where his safety is uncertain.

“They’re weaponizing the immigration system,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, adding that any removal outside Central America would require assurances he won’t be sent back to El Salvador.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis temporarily blocked Abrego’s deportation and scheduled further hearings on the legality of sending him to Uganda.

His legal team has raised concerns that he could face detention there and that the move violates constitutional protections.

Abrego, a sheet metal worker, had been living in Maryland with his wife, their child, and two stepchildren — all U.S. citizens — when he was first detained.

His lawyers argue the administration’s actions reflect Trump’s broader push to expand executive power over immigration, including efforts to curtail legal entry and speed deportations. Federal judges have repeatedly challenged those policies.

The outcome of Abrego’s case could test the limits of presidential authority in deportation proceedings and the protections afforded to immigrants with credible claims of persecution.