Judge blocks Abrego Deportation to Uganda!
International Desk, Aug 26 (EFE).-
A United States federal judge has blocked on Wednesday the deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García for several more weeks and scheduled an evidentiary hearing in early October, where United States President Donald Trump administration officials are expected to testify about the government’s attempt to remove him from the country.
District Judge Paula Xinis scheduled the hearing for Oct. 6, saying she would issue a ruling within 30 days.
Until then, Ábrego García must remain in the US, under the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“The Court requires clarity on whether government officials followed their own procedures or acted lawfully,” Xinis said, noting that testimony from Trump officials would be central to her decision.
Meanwhile, Ábrego García continues to fight his deportation on multiple fronts.
He is set to undergo a “credible fear” interview with immigration officials, who will evaluate his claim of fearing persecution or torture if sent to Uganda, the country to which the Trump administration seeks to deport him.
If the claim is valid, officials must identify another country for possible removal.
Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign told the court the process could take “at least two weeks.”
Legal battles and past deportation
Separately, Ábrego García is pursuing a renewed asylum application, which will be decided by an immigration judge within the Justice Department.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration illegally deported him to El Salvador in mid-March, where he was held for a period in the country’s notorious “mega-prison,” CECOT.
He was later returned to the United States to face federal charges of human trafficking. Despite those pending charges, the Trump administration has pushed to deport him swiftly, even before his trial concludes.
On Monday, ICE agents detained Ábrego García at Baltimore’s immigration court, just three days after his release in Tennessee, where a judge ruled he posed neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community.
His defense team argues the government is using deportation threats as leverage.
“The US government is pressuring Mr. Ábrego with the prospect of removal to Uganda in order to force a plea deal that would allow deportation to Costa Rica instead,” his lawyers said in a weekend statement.
Deportation options
One day after his release, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offered him a plea bargain in the human trafficking case that would allow him to be deported to Costa Rica or sent to Uganda instead.
“Deporting him to Costa Rica is not justice. It is an acceptably lesser evil. But insisting on deporting him to Uganda shows that the real motive in this case is not simply to remove him from the country, but to punish him and keep him detained,” Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Ábrego García’s lawyers, said at a press conference.
Ábrego has been assured that he will be a free citizen in Costa Rica and would have refugee protection from deportation to El Salvador.
According to his lawyers, he faces the risk of persecution and violence from the country’s gangs, which is why a judge prohibited his deportation in 2019, the defense attorney explained.
In this regard, Xinis believes that there are “several reasons” why he could have jurisdiction to request exemption from deportation, including that Uganda has not agreed to offer Ábrego protections such as freedom of transit, refugee status, and a ban on being sent to El Salvador.
For the moment, President Trump has limited himself to stating that they have the situation “under control” despite the fact that the migrant’s lawyers “are doing things through a liberal court system.” EFE seo/mcd
