ICE Detains Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Faces Potential Deportation to Uganda
Baltimore, MD – In a move that has reignited a fierce debate over U.S. immigration policy, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday after reporting for what he believed was a routine check-in at a Baltimore office.
The detention comes just days after Mr. Abrego Garcia was released from custody on separate criminal charges and follows a previous, wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March. According to his lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the administration has now signaled its intent to deport him a second time, this time to the East African nation of Uganda—a country with which he has no known ties.
The case has become a flashpoint in the national immigration debate. The Trump administration has publicly labeled Mr. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant, as an “MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator.” Officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have announced his arrest and processing for removal, stating they will not allow him to “terrorize American citizens.”
However, these claims are at the center of a legal and political firestorm. Mr. Abrego Garcia was previously wrongfully deported to El Salvador after being misidentified. He was later returned to the U.S. to face criminal charges in federal court in Nashville, from which he was released just three days prior to his latest detention.
His legal team contends the latest action is an abuse of power. Shortly after his detention, lawyers filed a habeas petition in a Maryland federal court seeking to block his removal to Uganda. The petition argues the administration re-arrested him without affording him the legally required opportunity to express his “fears of persecution and torture” in that country.
The scene outside the ICE office was one of tension and emotion. A crowd of supporters met the news with chants of “shame,” while volunteers shielded Mr. Abrego Garcia’s family as they departed.
A standing court order from a Maryland federal judge automatically grants a 48-hour stay of removal for any immigrant who files a habeas petition, providing a brief window for his legal team to fight the deportation. The case continues to highlight the deep ideological divide between the administration’s enforcement-first policies and critics who argue those policies are trampling the rights of immigrants.
