KAMPALA, Uganda — Less than 24 hours after his release from a US jail, Kilmar Ábrego García has been informed by authorities that he may be deported to Uganda after he refused to accept a plea deal in a pending criminal case, his lawyers say.
According to his legal team, Ábrego García declined an offer to plead guilty to human smuggling charges in exchange for deportation to Costa Rica. This deal was proposed after it became clear he would be released from custody.
His lawyers now accuse the US government of attempting to “coerce” him into a guilty plea by threatening to deport him “halfway across the world” to Uganda.
The Salvadoran national was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March and was subsequently returned to the US to face criminal charges. The deal to be sent to Costa Rica was offered last Thursday, when it became apparent that Ábrego García would likely be released from a Tennessee jail the following day. A
letter from a Costa Rican official, included in the legal filing, states that the Costa Rican government agreed to accept him as a refugee and provide him with legal status there. The court filing specified that Ábrego García would only be deported to Costa Rica after serving his sentence for the smuggling charges.
His attorneys now say that upon his release from federal custody, they were informed of the government’s intention to deport him to Uganda, a country with which he has no known ties.
“The DOJ, DHS, and ICE are using their collective powers to force Mr. Abrego to choose between a guilty plea followed by relative safety, or rendition to Uganda, where his safety and liberty would be under threat,” the lawyers wrote in the filing.
The lawyers also say Ábrego García has until Monday morning to accept the plea deal in exchange for deportation to Costa Rica, “or else that offer will be off the table forever.” It was not immediately clear whether he was considering the offer.
Ábrego García, who is now in Maryland with his family, is scheduled to appear in a Baltimore immigration court on Monday. If a judge approves the government’s request, he could face deportation within days.
According to documents obtained by CBS, a BBC US partner, the US has reached bilateral deportation agreements with Honduras and Uganda as part of its crackdown on illegal immigration.
Also Read: Uganda denies US media report of deportation deal with Trump administration
“This is a temporary arrangement with conditions including that individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted,” Bagiire Vincent Waiswa, permanent secretary to the Ugandan foreign ministry, said in a statement.
“Uganda also prefers that individuals from African countries shall be the ones transferred to Uganda.”
Ábrego García’s deportation case has become a fixture of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. He was deported to his native El Salvador in March and was initially held in the notorious Cecot prison.
However, after US government officials acknowledged his deportation was due to an “administrative error,” a judge ordered the administration to “facilitate” his return. He was brought back to the United States in early June and sent to Tennessee, where he was charged in a human smuggling scheme.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. In late June, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled that Ábrego García was eligible for release, but he remained in jail due to fears from his legal team that he could be swiftly deported again if he left the facility.
