It is a deportation dispute that could hardly be more absurd: Kilmar Ábrego García, a migrant from El Salvador, was released in the United States on Friday after having been wrongfully deported and then returned to the U.S. Now, his lawyers say he will be deported to Uganda next week.
The lawyers said Saturday they have filed a complaint against the U.S. government’s plans. They believe the deportation to Uganda is intended to punish him for initially resisting his return to El Salvador.
An ICE immigration officer informed him immediately after his release that their client was going to be deported to Uganda. To do so, he must report to ICE in Baltimore. Uganda announced Thursday that the country would accept rejected asylum seekers as part of a migration agreement with the United States.
Ábrego García is currently with his family in the U.S. state of Maryland. In early June, he was returned to the United States from El Salvador and immediately detained there. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has stated that he will have to face charges of human trafficking.
A Tennessee judge ruled that he must be released until his trial, scheduled to begin on January 27, 2026. Ábrego García was one of more than 250 migrants deported to El Salvador on March 15 and detained in a notorious prison. The Salvadoran man is married to an American woman and had lived in the state of Maryland until his deportation.
His case has highlighted U.S. President Donald Trump’s tough stance on irregular migration and has also caused an international stir. U.S. government lawyers have admitted that Ábrego García was deported to El Salvador due to an “administrative error.” However, Trump insists that Ábrego García belongs to the notorious Salvadoran gang MS-13 and is a “terrorist,” even though there is no evidence of this.
