Kilmar Abrego, the migrant whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador drew national coverage, has once again been detained by immigration authorities in Baltimore. His new detention raises questions about due process, retaliation, and whether he could face removal to Costa Rica or Uganda, even though court rulings already recognized past violations of his rights.
Renewed Detention in Baltimore
Kilmar Abrego, 30, reported for a scheduled interview with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Baltimore on Monday. Within hours, he was placed back into federal custody, despite having been released only days earlier from criminal detention in Tennessee. His wife and brother, who accompanied him to the appointment, left the facility without him, underscoring the abrupt nature of the detention.
Abrego’s re-arrest comes after spending more than five months in detention, including time in one of El Salvador’s mega-prisons. That facility, infamous for its harsh treatment and overcrowding, became a focal point of international criticism when Abrego was wrongfully deported there earlier this year. His return to Maryland was intended to reunite him with family. However, immigration proceedings now threaten to remove him once again.
Threat of Deportation to Uganda or Costa Rica
Federal officials have proposed deporting Abrego to Costa Rica, a Spanish-speaking Central American nation, if he accepts a guilty plea to charges of transporting undocumented migrants. His lawyers describe this proposal as outside standard removal practice and amounts to coercion. His refusal to plead guilty has seen officials name Uganda, an East African country, as a second-choice destination.
His lawyers describe deportation there as putting him at serious risk and is tantamount to the punitive use of immigration law. Abrego has entered a plea of not guilty but acknowledged that discussions with the government are ongoing. They maintain that Costa Rica is only being offered as leverage, describing the dynamic as an unconstitutional attempt to force compliance through fear.
Legal Challenges and Allegations of Retaliation
Abrego’s lawyers countered the renewed detention with a federal suit in Maryland. In it, they are asking a court to order that his deportation be banned without first allowing him a chance to appeal removal. They claim that prosecuting and deporting him constitutes retaliation for having previously challenged improper government actions.
This reasoning borrows from Abrego’s earlier case, where a court held that his deportation to El Salvador was a violation of a protection order. Officials later accepted the removal as an administrative error, yet his return to the United States was delayed for months. Lawyers depict this trend as a system that combines political intent and administrative errors and leaves migrants vulnerable to repeated violations of their rights.
Looking Ahead
Abrego’s detention has resulted in protests outside ICE’s Baltimore field office, and community groups have conducted vigils and rallies to draw attention to the stakes of his case. Activists argue that his case is symbolic of the broader threat of wrongful deportations, selective prosecution, and ongoing weaponization of immigration enforcement policies in the U.S.
The ruling in Abrego’s case might set a precedent for how wrongful expulsions would be handled in the future and whether migrants who are stuck in bureaucratic errors would have more protections. His fate may depend on whether the courts intervene to block his removal or whether plea negotiations determine his destination.
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Resources:
- https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/wrongly-deported-migrant-abrego-again-detained-by-us-immigration-officials-2025-08-25/
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/25/kilmar-abrego-garcia-uganda-deportation-trump
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/us/politics/kilmar-abrego-garcia-arrested-ice-deportation.html
- https://news.sky.com/story/kilmar-abrego-garcia-man-wrongly-deported-from-us-to-el-salvador-threatened-with-deportation-to-uganda-one-day-after-release-13417392
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