The Trump administration threatened to deport illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda if he did not agree to plead guilty to charges of transporting other illegal immigrants.
Abrego Garcia was released from jail on Friday after having been incarcerated since June 6, after returning from being deported to El Salvador earlier this year.
The Justice Department announced the charges against Abrego Garcia shortly after he was returned to the US. Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that “over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring.”
In a court filing, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys added new information to support his motion to dismiss the indictment against him. His lawyers contend that after the judge approved his release, the Justice Department tried to pressure him to plead guilty to the charges. The agency told Abrego Garcia that if he agreed “to extend the stay of his release to Monday, August 25, 2025, and plead guilty to both counts of the indictment, then the government would promise to deport Mr. Abrego to Costa Rica.”
NEW: Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say the government is attempting to coerce him to plead guilty to charges.
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) August 23, 2025
Per filing, the government promised to deport him to Costa Rica if he pleads guilty — but is now threatening to remove him to Uganda if he doesn’t accept the deal. pic.twitter.com/AHx9vtZodg
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However, on the next day, the government altered the deal, according to the court filing. After arranging for Costa Rica to accept Abrego, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “informed Mr. Abrego’s counsel that the government intended to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorney further stated that “the only thing that happened between Thursday—Costa Rica—and Friday—Uganda—was Mr. Abrego’s exercise of his legal entitlement to release under the Bail Reform Act and the Fifth Amendment.”
BREAKING: Per DHS & ICE sources, this afternoon, DHS notified Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s counsel via email that ICE may deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda “no earlier than 72 hours from now”, & ICE is also ordering him to report to ICE’s Baltimore office on Monday. Notifications below 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/CLQSm78JfX
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 22, 2025
The attorneys contend that the Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department (DHS) are “using their collective powers to force Mr. Abrego to choose between a guilty plea followed by relative safety, or rendition to Uganda, where is safety and liberty would be under threat,” which is “a due process violation of the most basic sort.”
The filing further states, “It is difficult to imagine a path the government could have taken that would have better emphasized its vindictiveness.”
Abrego Garcia’s story garnered national attention after he was deported to El Salvador, even though he was under a withholding of removal order, which prohibited the government from sending him to El Salvador due to fears that he would be targeted for violence.
A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration and ordered it to bring Abrego Garcia back to the US. After his return, federal authorities promptly incarcerated him after his indictment.
If the White House does decide to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda, it will likely trigger yet another high-profile legal battle.
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