Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, an attorney for El Salvador citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia, argued over the weekend that his client should not be sent to Uganda because he doesn’t even speak the country’s language.
“It is preposterous that they would send him to Africa, to a country where he doesn’t even speak the language, where there are documented human rights violations, when there are so many other options,” the lawyer told reporters.
Uganda, like the United States, is a former colony of Great Britain, and the official language there is English.
The lawyer for “Maryland Dad” Kilmar Abrego-Garcia is contending it’s “preposterous” for Garcia to be deported to Uganda b/c he doesn’t speak the language. The official language of Uganda is English — which he also didn’t speak when he snuck into America. https://t.co/dz2yq1VKBz
— Paul Mauro (@PaulDMauro) August 24, 2025
So if he’s going to have problems in Uganda due to the language, he will here in the U.S., too.
Presumably, since the Trump administration is deporting illegal aliens to Uganda when their home countries won’t accept them, Abrego Garcia will still find many Spanish speakers among them.
Lawyer for Kilmar Abrego-Garcia: “It is preposterous that they would send him to Africa, to a country where he doesn’t even speak the language.” pic.twitter.com/20RyZIZoYe
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 23, 2025
On Friday, Obama-appointed federal district court Judge Paula Xinis ordered the “Maryland man” released from a Tennessee prison and blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from apprehending him as he traveled to Maryland.
In June, Abrego Garcia had been extradited back to the United States from a prison in El Salvador to face charges related to a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, when the illegal alien was driving an SUV full of passengers. The Trump administration had deported him in March, concluding he had entered the country illegally.
On Monday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on social media, “Today, ICE law enforcement arrested Kilmar Abrego Garcia and are processing him for deportation.”
“President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator to terrorize American citizens any longer,” she added.
Today, ICE law enforcement arrested Kilmar Abrego Garcia and are processing him for deportation.
President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator to terrorize American citizens…
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) August 25, 2025
Later that day, Xinis told Trump administration officials they were “absolutely forbidden” from removing Abrego Garcia until she can hold a hearing to determine if the illegal immigrant will be given the opportunity to contest his deportation, The Hill reported.
A 2019 court order had barred Abrego Garcia’s deportation to his home country of El Salvador due to “fear of persecution,” but the U.S. could deport him to a third-party nation.
Democrat lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, have argued that Abrego Garcia was unlawfully removed from the U.S. by the Trump administration.
Van Hollen even traveled to El Salvador in April to meet with Abrego Garcia and call for his return.
Democrat lawmakers’ demands for the illegal alien’s return became more muted when evidence surfaced that he is an MS-13 member, engaged in human trafficking, and battered his wife.
In 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit validated Abrego Garcia as a member of MS-13. When he was arrested, he was found with rolls of cash and drugs and was with two other members of MS-13. pic.twitter.com/ZrIF6JJXMJ
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 25, 2025
Sandoval-Moshenberg told CNN regarding his client’s deportation to Uganda, “There is a perfectly reasonable option available, Costa Rica, where his family can visit him easily, but instead they are attempting to send him halfway across the world.”
The Justice Department reportedly offered Abrego Garcia a deal last week to plead guilty to human trafficking charges and serve any sentence the judge imposes in exchange for being deported to Costa Rica, but he turned the proposal down.
Instead, his attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging his detention, which keeps the detainee in the U.S. until at least Wednesday afternoon, Politico reported.
The U.S. has given Abrego Garcia options and his day in court starting in 2019, but he has chosen to stay in the U.S. and break our nation’s laws.
So good riddance. Enjoy Uganda or wherever the Trump administration ultimately sends you.
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