Attorneys representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, say the Trump administration is threatening Abrego Garcia with being re-deported to Uganda unless he pleads guilty to smuggling undocumented immigrants.
JUST IN: Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say the Trump administration is trying to coerce him to plead guilty to the charges he is facing by promising to deport him to Costa Rica — and threatening to deport him to Uganda if he doesn’t. https://t.co/k7nij0G9vX pic.twitter.com/pjGT6pK5vy
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 23, 2025
Abrego Garcia was deported even though he had never been charged with a crime.
On Thursday, a day before he was scheduled to be released from criminal custody, prosecutors presented Abrego Garcia’s legal team with a deal.
From the New York Times:
The prosecutors said that if he agreed to remain in jail until Monday and then pleaded guilty to charges of having taken part in a long-running conspiracy to smuggle undocumented immigrants across the United States, they would agree to deport him to Costa Rica after he served whatever sentence he was given in the case.
As a further inducement to enter a guilty plea, according to the filing, the prosecutors provided the defense lawyers with a letter confirming that Mr. Abrego Garcia could live freely in Costa Rica, which would “accept him as a refugee or grant him residency status.”
But after Mr. Abrego Garcia was freed from custody in Tennessee on Friday afternoon, they said, the Trump administration suddenly changed course.
Working together, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security informed the lawyers that if Mr. Abrego Garcia did not accept the offer to plead guilty and be sent to Costa Rica by Monday morning, then Immigration and Customs Enforcement would start the process of expelling him to Uganda.
You may recall that, back in March, Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in direct violation of a court order prohibiting him from being sent there.
For weeks, the Trump administration said there was no way to retrieve him and return him to the U.S.
But then, they did exactly that, bringing him back to the U.S. to face the newly-filed smuggling charges.
Abrego Garcia was released Friday night and was reunited with his family for the first time in over 160 days.
BREAKINGKilmar Abrego Garcia was freed from Putnam County Jail and reunited with his family on Friday night. Abrego Garcia saw his family in person for the first time in more than 160 days after he was taken into custody by ICE and sent to CECOT in El Salvador. pic.twitter.com/4Pi15HDYot
— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) August 23, 2025
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