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Judge Halts Uganda Deportation After ICE Detains Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Baltimore

Judges are now weighing whether the administration can use third-country deportations to pressure plea deals.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia holds wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura's hand as he appears for a check-in at the ICE Baltimore field office in Maryland on Aug. 25, 2025.
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Jennifer Vasquez Sura, front left, and her husband Kilmar Abrego Garcia, front center, attend a protest rally at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, to support Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - AUGUST 25: Kilmar Abrego Garcia (C) and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura (Center Right) enter a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. The U.S. Government is threatening to deport Garcia, a Maryland construction worker from El Salvador, to Uganda after he rejected a plea deal to be charged with Human Smuggling and deported to Costa Rica. Earlier this year Garcia was wrongfully deported to a notorious anti-terrorism prison CECOT in El Salvador. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Overview

  • Abrego Garcia surrendered at ICE’s Baltimore field office on Monday and was taken into custody as officials signaled plans to remove him to Uganda, according to court filings and statements.
  • U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued a temporary order blocking his deportation pending a hearing on whether he can contest removal in court.
  • Prosecutors earlier offered to send him to Costa Rica if he pleaded guilty to human smuggling; he pleaded not guilty in Tennessee and moved to dismiss the case as vindictive prosecution.
  • His attorneys filed habeas litigation in Maryland, he has asserted fear of persecution or torture in Uganda, and he is currently held at an immigration detention facility in Virginia.
  • The administration portrays him as an MS-13 member and a public danger, claims he disputes; DOJ has acknowledged his March removal to El Salvador was an administrative error and he alleges abuse there.