Overview

• A DHS email to Abrego’s lawyers Friday said Eswatini has replaced Uganda as his removal destination, citing his stated fear of persecution or torture in Uganda.
• Abrego is held in ICE custody in Virginia as Judge Paula Xinis ordered he remain in the United States and within 200 miles of Greenbelt, Maryland, pending a ruling expected in mid-October, with a hearing set for October 6.
• The Maryland resident was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March despite a court order, returned to the U.S. in June, and now faces Tennessee charges of transporting migrants, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
• Prosecutors explored a plea deal that would have sent him to Costa Rica after conviction, and the administration has offered $1,000 incentives for voluntary departures as part of its removal strategy.
• Government-linked data show roughly 8,000 third-country deportations through June and a July flight to Eswatini, after the Supreme Court allowed the practice in June as a dissent warned of risks of torture or death.