Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully expelled to El Salvador in March and then brought back to face criminal charges, was detained again today at an ICE office in Baltimore. The Trump administration has signaled that it plans to soon deport him to Uganda.
After the arrest, which came just three days after he had been freed from custody, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers filed a legal action known as a habeas petition seeking to stop his removal. A judge said this afternoon that she planned to “move as fast as is just” in considering his petition.
In the meantime, the judge declared, the government was barred from re-expelling Abrego Garcia, who is now being held in an ICE facility in Virginia.
Over the weekend, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers had accused the Trump administration of seeking to “coerce” a guilty plea from him on the charges of human smuggling. They said the administration had promised to send him to Costa Rica, where he could live freely, if he pleaded guilty to the charges. Otherwise, the lawyers said, officials said they would deport Abrego Garcia “halfway across the world” to Uganda.
In other Trump administration news:
President Trump directed the Pentagon to take a larger role in domestic law enforcement, including by “quelling civil disturbances.”
Trump, in an Oval Office meeting with South Korea’s leader, praised the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
FEMA employees warned Congress that the administration was gutting its ability to respond to disasters.