Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem used unproven claims to attack a man wrongfully deported by the Trump administration who now faces deportation to Uganda.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was detained on Monday at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Baltimore. He was deported to a notorious El Salvadoran megaprison in March because of an “administrative error,” but was brought back to the U.S. after the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return.
Abrego Garcia’s arrest comes after he was released from federal prison on Friday after being flown back to the U.S. in June, only to be detained and charged with human smuggling.
In a statement, Noem said ICE is once again “processing” Abrego Garcia for deportation. DHS said in the same news release that he will “be processed for removal to Uganda” in East Africa.
“President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator, to terrorize American citizens any longer,” Noem said.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to migrant smuggling charges—which stem from a 2022 traffic stop, which did not lead to charges at the time—and he has not been charged over any allegations of child abuse.
His lawyers and family said he has no connections to MS-13, which the Trump administration designated as a terrorist organization, and that the allegations are based mainly on disputed information from a 2019 informant.
The Maryland father was told shortly after his release from federal prison last week that the Trump administration is working to deport him yet again—this time to Uganda. Sean Hecker, one of Abrego’s attorneys, said the Trump administration also offered him a plea deal last week that would see him deported to Costa Rica if he pleaded guilty to the human smuggling charges.
Outside the ICE office, Abrego Garcia spoke via a translator to others who have suffered hardships under the Trump administration.
“To all of the families who have also suffered separations or who live under the constant threat of being separated, I want to tell you that even though this injustice is hurting us hard, we must not lose hope,” he said, according to the New York Times.
Another of his lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said outside the Baltimore detention center that Abrego Garcia’s legal team has asked ICE why their client was being detained but did not receive an answer. Sandoval-Moshenberg said the ICE officer also did not say which detention center he was being sent to.
Abrego Garcia was checking in with ICE to be interviewed as part of the conditions he agreed to when he was freed from federal custody. “Clearly, that was false,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
“In the last five minutes, Mr. Abrego Garcia has filed a new lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the District of Maryland, challenging his current confinement and challenging deportation to Uganda or to any other country, unless and until he’s had a fair trial,” Sandoval-Moshenberg added.
“Our client, a man with remarkable courage, reported to ICE this morning, as he was required to do. He was promptly detained,” Hecker told the Daily Beast. “The government now seeks to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda as punishment, notwithstanding that Costa Rica is willing to take him in as a refugee. The government’s campaign of retribution continues because Mr. Abrego refuses to be coerced into pleading guilty to a case that should never have been brought.”
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS for comment.
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