Kilmar Ábrego García, whose case has become indicative of the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, was taken into custody on Monday after reporting to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Baltimore.
Speaking outside an ICE field office, Ábrego’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, accused officials of acting vindictively. “The only reason he was taken into detention was to punish him,” he told supporters gathered at the scene.
Earlier that day, Ábrego had filed a fresh lawsuit challenging both his detention and the prospect of deportation to Uganda. Court documents filed over the weekend revealed that he had previously refused an offer to be deported to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in prison and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges.
Ábrego released from custody pending trial
Ábrego, 30, entered the United States without authorisation in 2011 after fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. He was later granted a federal protection order barring deportation to his home country.
In March, he was deported by immigration authorities in what officials later admitted was an “administrative error”. While in El Salvador, Ábrego was detained at the government’s high-security Terrorism Confinement Centre, where his lawyers allege he suffered both physical and psychological torture.
The Trump administration faced mounting pressure to return him, including from the Supreme Court, which ordered officials to “facilitate” his repatriation. In June, he was flown back to the US, but was immediately charged with human smuggling offences, accusations his legal team dismisses as “preposterous”. His criminal trial is due to begin in January.
Despite being cleared for return, officials have continued to portray Ábrego as having links to the MS-13 gang, claims strongly denied by both him and his family.
