Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national mistakenly deported but returned to the U.S., arrived at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility Monday morning in anticipation of new deportation proceedings.
Abrego Garcia, who was instructed to report Monday morning to the ICE field office in Baltimore, earlier declined a plea offer that would have allowed him to “live freely” in Costa Rica after serving prison time in exchange for a guilty plea for federal human smuggling charges.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking now to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda, one of the latest countries with a deal with the Trump administration to accept deportees.
Abrego Garcia was released from a Tennessee jail on Friday and returned home to his family in Maryland.
The release marked the first time Abrego Garcia was outside government custody since March, when he was deported due to an “administrative error” and sent to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia was brought back to the U.S. to face human trafficking charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop, during which he was pulled over in Tennessee for speeding and was seen transporting men without luggage.
Abrego Garcia has denied wrongdoing and his legal team has sought to dismiss the case, arguing the charges were the result of a vindictive and selective prosecution.
The case has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
Abrego Garcia initially entered the country illegally but was protected from deportation by a 2019 ruling from an immigration judge that prohibited his return to his native El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia is married to a U.S. citizen, and together they have a child who is a U.S. citizen.
