ICE plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he rejects plea deal

ilmar Abrego Garcia, pictured at center, was released from jail in Putnam County, Tennessee on August 22, 2025. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

The Trump administration intends to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he rejected a last-minute deal to remain in jail, plead guilty to human smuggling charges and be deported to Costa Rica, a legal notice filed Saturday by his attorneys said.

The behind-the-scenes ultimatum bolsters defense claims that Abrego is the target of “selective and vindictive prosecution” by the government for contesting his wrongful deportation to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador in March, Abrego’s lawyers wrote.

The revelations come one day after Abrego was released from a Tennessee jail where he was awaiting a January trial on human smuggling charges. The sheet-metal apprentice was on his way back to Maryland, where he lives in Prince George’s County with his wife and children, when his attorneys received an emailed notice at 4:01 p.m. Friday from Immigration and Customs Enforcement saying it may send him to Uganda.

Abrego, an undocumented immigrant who was arrested in March, was swiftly and erroneously deported to a prison in El Salvador, even though a previous court order prohibited his deportation there because of possible threats from Salvadoran gangs. The Trump administration acknowledged his deportation was a mistake, and since then his case has focused unwelcome public scrutiny on the administration’s immigration crackdown tactics.

On return to the U.S., Abrego was taken to Tennessee to face charges that an unremarkable 2022 traffic stop there with several immigrants in his car was really part of a human smuggling ring.  Abrego has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

In a deal offered by the government late Thursday, it promised to deport Abrego to Costa Rica where he could live freely if he remained jailed until Monday, pleaded guilty to the Tennessee human smuggling charges and served the sentence imposed by the court, his attorneys wrote. The government of Costa Rica had agreed to take him, the filing said.

Abrego’s attorneys informed the Acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire, who is prosecuting the Tennessee case, they would “of course, communicate the government’s proposal to Mr. Abrego” but declined to agree to a demand that he remain incarcerated until Monday.

Abrego was released shortly after 2 p.m. Friday from a detention facility in Putnam County, Tennessee. Within…