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ABREGO GARCIA ARRESTED BY ICE AS JUDGE ORDERS POSTPONEMENT OF
DEPORTATION TO UGANDA  
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Ariana Figueroa and William J. Ford
August 25, 2025
Maryland Matters
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_ Federal courts and public outcry forced the Administration to bring
Ábrego García back to Maryland, but Trump’s cronies continue to
lie about the facts in his case and they are engaged in a malicious
abuse of power as they threaten to deport him. _

Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks to protesters who held a prayer vigil and
rally on his behalf outside of the ICE office in Baltimore, Maryland,
on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. Lydia Walther Rodriguez with CASA interprets
for him, (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters).

 

BALTIMORE — Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore early Monday for a
prayer vigil for the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the
Trump administration aims to re-deport to Uganda unless he pleads
guilty to Justice Department charges.

As Abrego Garcia arrived for his Monday ICE check-in at the office, he
was arrested and detained, one of his immigration lawyers, Simon Y.
Sandoval-Moshenberg, told the crowd. 

The crowd shouted “Shame!”

Sandoval-Moshenberg added that the ICE officials would not answer
questions about where Abrego Garcia would be detained. 

“The only reason that they’ve chosen to take him into detention is
to punish him,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said outside the office. 

[Television cameras and photographers follow Kilmar Abrego Garcia as
his family, friends and other supporters walk him up the steps to the
George H. Fallon Federal Building, where the ICE detention facility is
located in Baltimore, on Aug. 25, 2025. (Photo by William J.
Ford/Maryland Matters) ]
Television cameras and photographers follow Kilmar Abrego Garcia as
his family, friends and other supporters walk him up the steps to the
George H. Fallon Federal Building, where the ICE detention facility is
located in Baltimore, on Aug. 25, 2025.  (Photo by William J.
Ford/Maryland Matters)  

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a
statement to States Newsroom that “ICE law enforcement arrested
Kilmar Abrego Garcia and are processing him for deportation.”

DHS said that ICE has placed Abrego Garcia in removal proceedings to
Uganda, which has agreed
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to accept deportees from the United States.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys quickly filed 
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habeas corpus petition suit in a Maryland district court, where Judge
Paula Xinis, who also ordered the Trump administration to return
Abrego Garica after his wrongful deportation
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has barred immigration officials from removing Abrego Garcia from the
United States until 4 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. A habeas corpus petition
allows immigrants to challenge their detention.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said Abrego Garcia would accept refugee status
that has been offered by Costa Rica’s government, but would not
plead guilty to the charges. 

‘I am free and have been reunited with my family’

As Abrego Garcia walked into his ICE check-in with his wife, Jennifer
Vasquez Sura, he was greeted by cheers from hundreds of protesters. 

In Spanish, Abrego Garcia thanked those who attended.

“I always want you to remember that today, I can say with pride,
that I am free and have been reunited with my family,” he said. 

Immigrant rights activists from the advocacy group CASA shielded the
family and the attorneys as they entered the field office. 

[Protesters hold up a sign of support for Kilmar Abrego Garcia outside
the ICE office in Baltimore where he was arrested on Monday, Aug. 25,
2025. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)]
Protesters hold up a sign of support for Kilmar Abrego Garcia outside
the ICE office in Baltimore where he was arrested on Monday, Aug. 25,
2025. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)

Over the weekend, attorneys for Abrego Garcia’s criminal case in
Nashville said in court filings 
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the Trump administration is trying to force the Maryland man to plead
guilty to human smuggling charges by promising to remove him to Costa
Rica if he does so, and threatening to deport him to Uganda if he
refuses. 

Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty and was released Friday to await
trial in January on charges he took part in a long-running conspiracy
to smuggle immigrants without legal status across the United States. 

His attorneys received a letter from ICE that informed them of his
pending deportation to Uganda and instructed him to report to the ICE
facility in Baltimore for a check-in. 

Sandoval-Moshenberg said that Monday’s check-in with ICE was
supposed to be an interview but “clearly that was false.”

Sandoval-Moshenberg said the new lawsuit was filed early Monday in the
District Court for the District of Maryland challenging Abrego
Garcia’s potential removal to the East African country, or any third
country, while his immigration case is pending. 

“The fact that they’re holding Costa Rica as a carrot and using
Uganda as a stick to try to coerce him to plead guilty to a crime is
such clear evidence that they’re weaponizing the immigration system
in a matter that is completely unconstitutional,”
Sandoval-Moshenberg said. 

Trump mass deportations in spotlight

The Supreme Court in April ordered
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the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia,
who was unlawfully deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, his
home country.  An immigration judge had granted him removal
protections in 2019 because it was likely he would face violence if
returned. 

The case has put the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation
tactics in the national spotlight as well as the White House’s clash
with the judicial branch as the president aims to carry out his plans
of mass deportation. 

On Friday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys moved to dismiss the case
against him because of the coordination from Homeland Security and the
Justice Department to force a guilty plea from him. 

“There can be only one interpretation of these events,” the
lawyers wrote. “The (Department of Justice, Department of Homeland
Security) and ICE are using their collective powers to force Mr.
Abrego (Garcia) to choose between a guilty plea followed by relative
safety, or rendition to Uganda, where his safety and liberty would be
under threat.”

Another judge in Maryland had earlier ruled
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that ICE must give Abrego Garcia 72 hours of notice before removing
him to a third country.  

Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who traveled to El Salvador
to meet with Abrego Garcia while he was detained there, criticized the
move by the Trump administration to re-deport him to Uganda. 

“The federal courts and public outcry forced the Administration to
bring Ábrego García back to Maryland, but Trump’s cronies continue
to lie about the facts in his case and they are engaged in a malicious
abuse of power as they threaten to deport him to Uganda – to block
his chance to defend himself against the new charges they brought,”
he said in a Sunday statement. “As I told Kilmar and his wife
Jennifer, we will stay in this fight for justice and due process
because if his rights are denied, the rights of everyone else are put
at risk.”

[Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., speaks during a rally on Aug. 25, 2025, in
support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is standing behind Ivey outside
of the George H. Fallon Federal Building, where the ICE detention
facility is located in Baltimore (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland
Matters)]
Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md.,  speaks during a rally on Aug. 25, 2025, in
support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is standing behind Ivey outside
of the George H. Fallon Federal Building, where the ICE detention
facility is located in Baltimore (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland
Matters)

Maryland Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey, who represents the district where
Abrego Garcia’s family lives, attended Monday’s rally. He slammed
the Trump administration for moving to again deport Abrego Garcia.

“This started with a mistake,” he said. “They knew it was
illegal. Instead of acknowledging it and bringing him back, they said,
‘We can’t bring him back.’ They lied.”

The Trump administration repeatedly stated in court that because
Abrego Garica was in El Salvador, he was no longer in U.S. custody and
could not be brought back despite court orders.

Wrongly deported in March

Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported in March and returned to the U.S.
in June to face the charges filed by the Justice Department in May.

While Abrego Garica was at the notorious prison in El Salvador known
as El Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, he detailed
how he was beaten and psychologically tortured.
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Because of his 2019 deportation protections, the Trump administration
either had to challenge the withholding of removal or deport Abrego
Garcia to a third country that would accept him. 

His attorneys in the Tennessee case attached the agreement with the
government of Costa Rica to accept Abrego Garcia’s removal in
Saturday court filings. 

“The Government of Costa Rica intends to provide refugee status or
residency to Mr. Abrego Garcia upon his transfer to Costa
Rica,” according to the agreement.
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“The Government of Costa Rica assures the Government of the United
States of America that, consistent with that
lawful immigration status and Costa Rican law, it does not intend to
detain Mr. Abrego Garcia upon his arrival in Costa Rica.”

In that filing, the Trump administration late Thursday agreed to
remove Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica if he remained in custody until
Monday, pleaded guilty to the DOJ charges and served the sentence
imposed.

Selah Torralba, an advocacy manager for the Tennessee Immigrant and
Refugee Rights Coalition, said at Monday’s rally outside the ICE
facility that she pushed for Abrego Garcia’s release while he was
detained in Tennessee.

“After spending close to three months brutalized in a place that he
should never have been sent to begin with, and another three months
imprisoned in a state that is not his own, Kilmar was joyfully
reunited with his family and children this weekend,” she said.
“But it is impossible to celebrate that joy without acknowledging
the cruel reality that our communities have known for far too long.”

 

_Ariana Figueroa [[link removed]]
covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom, the nation’s
largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Her areas of
coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign
finance._

_William J. Ford has reported for more than 25 years on local, county
and state politics. Before Maryland Matters, he spent nearly 10 years
covering municipalities, regional news and occasional news features
with sports angles at The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He
wrote for Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, and was a reporter for
seven years with The Washington Informer, covering local politics and
other D.C.-area topics. He often appears on local radio and TV
programs to discuss Maryland politics._

 

_Maryland Matters is a trusted nonprofit and nonpartisan news site. We
are not the arm of a profit-seeking corporation. Nor do we have a
paywall — we want to keep our work open to as many people as
possible. So we rely on the generosity of individuals and foundations
to fund our work. _

_Without nonprofit news sites like Maryland Matters, many stories will
never be told. Maryland Matters is an affiliate of States Newsroom
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nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations
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editorial independence. _

* Kilmar Abrego Garcia
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* Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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* Trump Administration
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* immigrant rights
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