NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Chatnewstv.com) — Immigration officials said they intend to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after the Maryland man refused a plea deal that would have sent him to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges, his defense attorneys told a court Saturday.
The offer from federal prosecutors came late Thursday and required that Abrego Garcia stay in custody, according to a brief filed in Tennessee, where the case is pending. After his release from jail on Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified his attorneys that he would instead be deported to Uganda and must report to immigration authorities in Baltimore on Monday.
“Within minutes of his release from pretrial custody, an ICE representative informed Mr. Abrego’s counsel that the government intended to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda and ordered him to report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office Monday morning,” the defense brief said.
Later Friday, prosecutors told Abrego Garcia that he had until Monday morning to accept the Costa Rica deal or lose the option permanently, his attorneys wrote. They declined to say whether he is still considering it.
The filing included a letter from Costa Rica’s government stating that Abrego Garcia would be accepted as a legal immigrant and not face detention there. Because Costa Rica is a Spanish-speaking country like his native El Salvador, attorneys said it would offer him greater stability. Under the proposal, deportation to Costa Rica would only occur after he served any sentence on the smuggling charges.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty and is seeking to have the case dismissed, arguing the charges are retaliation for fighting his earlier deportation to El Salvador. The Saturday filing described the Uganda threat as further proof the prosecution is “vindictive.”
His case has drawn attention since March, when he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador despite a judge’s ruling that he faced a “well-founded fear” of violence there. The Trump administration was ordered to bring him back in June, only to charge him with human smuggling.
The smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, when police pulled him over for speeding. Nine passengers were inside his car, and officers voiced suspicions of smuggling but let him go with a warning. A Department of Homeland Security agent testified that the investigation did not begin until April of this year, as pressure mounted for Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S.
Although deemed eligible for release last month, Abrego Garcia stayed in jail at his attorneys’ request, fearing deportation. A separate Maryland ruling now requires ICE to provide 72 hours’ notice before removing someone, giving lawyers a chance to intervene.
On Friday, ICE emailed attorneys at 4:01 p.m. to give notice that Abrego Garcia “may be removed … to Uganda no earlier than 72 hours from now (absent weekends).” Officials said Uganda recently agreed to take deportees from the U.S., provided they do not have criminal records and are not unaccompanied minors.
Federal officials maintain that Abrego Garcia can be deported because he entered the U.S. illegally and was declared removable by an immigration judge in 2019 — though not to El Salvador.
