Welcome to The Logoff: A federal judge is standing in the way of the Trump administration’s plan to once again deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia — this time to Uganda.
Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia? Abrego Garcia became one of the most high-profile victims of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown after he was wrongfully deported to CECOT, a megaprison in El Salvador, earlier this year. The Maryland resident and Salvadoran citizen was returned to the US in June to face questionable criminal charges in Tennessee after Trump officials resisted his return for months.
What just happened? On Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Abrego Garcia after he appeared at an immigration check-in in Baltimore just days after being released from jail, and the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to deport him. Hours later, a district court judge in Maryland ordered DHS to suspend deportation proceedings pending a hearing later this week, where Abrego Garcia’s lawyers will have a chance to argue that he fears persecution if deported to Uganda.
Why Uganda? As part of its effort to ramp up deportations, the Trump administration has struck deals with a number of countries, including Uganda, to accept US deportees from unrelated third countries. In Abrego Garcia’s case specifically, his lawyers allege the threat of deportation is coercive. They say the government offered to deport him to Costa Rica if he agreed to plead guilty to the charges he is still facing in Tennessee — and to Uganda if he refused.
What about the criminal charges? Abrego Garcia is currently facing federal criminal charges of human smuggling in connection with a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. The indictment alleges connection with a broader human smuggling ring, but there’s reason to be skeptical, as a veteran federal prosecutor in Nashville resigned over the decision to bring the charges in the first place.
What’s the big picture? Abrego Garcia’s initial deportation was entirely DHS’ mistake, but it’s hard to avoid the sense that the Trump administration is attempting to punish him for it nonetheless by bringing criminal charges and threatening re-removal to an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous third country.
