Wrongly deported migrant Abrego Garcia detained again by Trump administration, judge temporarily blocks deportation

Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States after being mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador in March, and since then he has been charged with human trafficking.

By: Express Web Desk

August 26, 2025 05:00 AM IST

3 min read

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, leaves the Putnam County Jail, in Cookeville, Tenn. (AP Photo)

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant whose wrongful deportation to his native place El Salvador made him the face of US President Donald Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, was again detained by immigration officials in Baltimore on Monday and maybe deported to Uganda this time.

In a breather for Garcia, a US federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting Garcia to another country, after he was detained by immigration officials on Monday morning.

Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States after being mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador in March, and since then the federal government has charged him with human trafficking. Garcia’s lawyers said the immigration officials said that he might be deported to Uganda if doesn’t accept a plea deal with authorities.

People attend a protest rally at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, to support Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (AP Photo)

US District Judge Paula Xinis, during Tuesday’s hearing, said that she has ordered the administration to not deport Garcia until she holds a hearing in the matter. Garcia filed a new federal lawsuit challenging his detention by immigration officials on Monday and potential deportation “to Uganda or any other country” until he has a trial, BBC reported.

Judge Xinis questioned immigration officials’ intention of deporting Garcia to Uganda and said that the administration has failed to demonstrate that Garcia would not face harm if he is sent to Uganda.

“It is in my view plain that you can’t do that. You can’t condition the relinquishment of constitutional rights in that regard. You’d never get a knowing and voluntary guilty plea out of anyone if you do that,” Judge Xinis said.

Abrego Garcia is currently being held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a detention facility which is located in Virginia, his lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told the judge.

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Till now, two existing court orders have barred the deportation of Garcia from the continental US until Wednesday afternoon.

The United States had reached a deportation agreement with Uganda and Honduras as part of administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

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