Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to an El Salvadorian prison in March, have accused the Trump Administration of trying to “coerce” their client to plead guilty to criminal charges of human trafficking or face deportation to Uganda, a country he has never been to.
In a motion for dismissal of the charges against him, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said the federal government presented a last-ditch plea deal on Thursday, the day before he was due to be released from pre-trial detention. In it, prosecutors said he would be deported to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to charges of smuggling undocumented immigrants across the United States.
According to the filing, the prosecutors provided Abrego Garcia’s defense with a letter from Costa Rica’s Ministry of Governance, Police, and Public Security, ensuring that Garcia could live freely in the country if he were to be deported there, either accepted as a refugee or given some form of legal status.
Read more: The Legal and Political Battle Over Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Deportation
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers declined to keep Abrego Garcia in jail, but agreed to convey the offer of a plea bargain to their client. But the court filing states that “within minutes” of his release on Friday from a jail in Tennessee, Abrego’s counsel was informed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that he would be deported to Uganda and “ordered him to report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office Monday.”
“There can be only one interpretation of these events: 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 court filing read. “The same drive for retribution that fueled this criminal case evidently caused a dramatic change in the government’s position with respect to third-country removal.”
Abrego’s lawyers argued that this new plan “punishes” Abrego Garcia for using his constitutional right to await trial outside of detention, and called for the dismissal of the criminal charges against him.
Garcia’s wrongful deportation—which came despite a direct court order that prohibited his removal to El Salvador—has become a flashpoint case for the Administration in its sweeping mass deportation effort.
The Trump Administration has ignored numerous court orders, including one from the Supreme Court that called for it to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S.
Trump eventually did bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., only to detain him on human smuggling charges in Tennessee since June.
TIME has contacted the DOJ for comment.
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