Wrongly deported migrant Abrego again detained by US immigration officials
- Abrego offered Costa Rica deportation if he pleads guilty
- Otherwise Abrego is threatened with deportation to Uganda
- Abrego was freed from criminal custody on Friday
Kilmar Abrego, the migrant whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador made him a symbol of President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies, was again detained by U.S. immigration officials in Baltimore on Monday, his lawyer said, while facing the possibility of being deported again, this time to Uganda.
Abrego, 30, was deported in March despite a 2019 U.S. immigration court ruling that he not be sent back to his native country due to a risk of persecution by gangs. Abrego was flown back from El Salvador in June to face criminal charges of transporting migrants living illegally in the United States. He has pleaded not guilty.
He was released from criminal custody in Tennessee on Friday and returned to a family home in Maryland after more than five months of detention, including time in a mega-prison in El Salvador known for its harsh conditions.
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But Abrego was detained again by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday upon reporting for an 8 a.m. interview, his lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told reporters and Abrego's supporters outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency field office in downtown Baltimore.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the arrest and said ICE is processing Abrego for deportation to Uganda.
U.S. officials have offered to deport him to Costa Rica - like El Salvador, a Spanish-speaking country in Central America - if he pleads guilty to the charges, according to his lawyers.
Without a guilty plea, Abrego could be removed to Uganda, an East African country that is "far more dangerous," his lawyers said in court documents filed on Saturday.
Abrego's lawyers acknowledged they have entered plea discussions with the government to possibly avoid deportation to Uganda.
Abrego is willing to accept refugee status in Costa Rica, Sandoval-Moshenberg told reporters.
"They're holding Costa Rica as a carrot and using Uganda as a stick," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. "They're weaponizing the immigration system in a way that's completely unconstitutional."
'ADMINISTRATIVE ERROR'
Abrego, a sheet metal worker who entered the United States without permission, had been living in Maryland with his wife, their child and her two children when he was arrested and deported earlier this year.
His wife and brother accompanied him to the interview at the ICE field office in Baltimore, and left the building about 45 minutes later without him, Reuters video showed.
Abrego also filed a lawsuit in federal court in Maryland seeking an order for him not to be deported anywhere unless he has had the chance to contest being sent there, Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
He is covered by a standing order in Maryland preventing immigrants challenging their deportations from being immediately deported, court records showed.
Greenbelt, Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had previously ruled that authorities cannot deport Abrego to a country other than El Salvador without giving his lawyers 72 hours' notice so he can challenge his removal.
Abrego's case drew attention as the Trump administration for months took no apparent steps to bring him back despite an official's acknowledgement that his deportation had been an "administrative error" and a federal judge's order to facilitate his return.
His lawyers are also asking Nashville-based U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw to dismiss the criminal charges, saying he had been "vindictively and selectively" prosecuted out of Trump administration retaliation for challenging his previous deportation.
Crenshaw last month affirmed U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes' order for Abrego to be released from pre-trial custody, finding he was neither a danger to the community nor a risk of flight.
