Kilmar Abrego Garcia taken into ICE custody, but judge blocks deportation for now

BALTIMORE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who reunited with his family last week after 160 days apart following his mistaken deportation to El Salvador, was taken into ICE custody Monday after an immigration check-in, but a judge later ruled that he cannot be deported, for now. The check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore was part of the conditions of his release Friday from federal custody. While such meetings are usually routine and meant for case updates, Abrego's attorneys had expected he would be taken into ICE custody after the Trump administration announced over the weekend its intention to deport him to Uganda. "There was no need to take him into ICE detention. ... The only reason they took him into detention was to punish him," for using his constitutional right to speak up and fight proceedings, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego's attorneys. Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks at a podium Kilmar Abrego Garcia, appears for a check-in at the ICE Baltimore field office three days after his release from criminal custody in Tennessee, in Baltimore, Md., on Aug. 25, 2025Elizabeth Frantz / Reuters Monday afternoon, Sandoval-Moshenberg said Abrego was being held at a detention center in Virginia on Monday afternoon. What we know about Abrego Garcia's case Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March due to what officials described as an “administrative error.” In April, a judge ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego — spurring a legal back-and-forth that involved the Supreme Court. Abrego was returned to the U.S. on June 6, following an indictment in a federal court in Nashville. The indictment charged Abrego with transporting within the U.S. people who were not legally in the country. He was released from federal custody on parole on Friday and had a tearful reunion with his family after months apart. Minutes after his release, immigration authorities notified Abrego that they intend to deport him to Uganda. Separately, the Trump administration offered him a plea deal that would ensure his eventual deportation to Costa Rica. Abgrego filed a new lawsuit in federal district court for the district of Maryland "seeking to ensure that he is not removed from the United States pending his immigration proceedings." The suit challenges Abrego's deportation to Uganda or any other country unless and until he’s had a fair trial, Sandoval-Moshenberg said. He later argued that deporting his client to any country without any credible assurances that he can stay there would be “just a very inconvenient layover to El Salvador.” At a hearing Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered that Abrego must remain stay detained in the U.S. — temporarily blocking his deportation to Uganda — until she holds an evidentiary hearing. The judge said there are "several grounds" on which there may be jurisdiction for her to exercise relief — including that Uganda has not agreed to offer Abrego protections, like being able to walk freely, being given refugee status and not being re-deported to El Salvador. Before his ICE check-in appointment and detainment Monday morning, Abrego addressed reporters while surrounded by family, supporters, faith leaders and his legal team, who were all calling for his freedom. "My name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and I want you to remember this, remember that I am free and I was able to be reunited with my family," he said in Spanish before a translator repeated in English. "This was a miracle. Thank you to God and thank you to the community," Abrego added. "I want to thank each and every one of you who marched, lift your voices, never stop praying and continue to fight in my name." Abrego was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, in violation of a 2019 court order. After much legal resistance, he was returned to the U.S. in June and hit with human smuggling charges out of Tennessee, which he pleaded not guilty to. The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Abrego of being a gang member part of the notorious MS-13, which his attorneys have denied. Abrego’s lawyers have said he illegally immigrated to the U.S. when he was 16 to join his brother in Maryland to escape gang violence in El Salvador. The Trump administration offered Abrego a plea deal last week, his lawyers said in a Saturday court filing that was part of their efforts to get the charges in Tennessee dropped over what they consider to be "vindictive" and "selective" prosecution. If he pleads guilty to the federal charges out of Tennessee and serves time, he can be deported to Costa Rica. The Costa Rican government said he'd live as a free man there, according to the filing. Sandoval-Moshenberg said his client would not accept the plea deal as Abrego "will not accept charges of which he's not guilty." This means the agreement to be deported to Costa Rica could be off the table. Abrego's attorneys rebuffed the Trump administration's apparent attempt to strong-arm him. Gary Grumbach reported from Baltimore, Marlene Lenthang from Los Angeles, and Rebecca Cohen from New York. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.