Kilmer Abrego Garcia’s attorneys are voicing strong opposition to the plans by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport him to Uganda. This decision is particularly surprising given that he’s reportedly not proficient in any language, even though English is Uganda’s official language.
Simon Sandoval Moshenberg, one of his lawyers, expressed his determination to “fight teeth and claws against all forms of deportation into Uganda.”
He pointed out the troubling nature of sending someone to a country where they don’t understand the language and which has a history of human rights violations. “This family is suffering quite well,” he mentioned to reporters.
At 30 years old, Abrego Garcia faced imminent detention by ICE on Monday, moving closer to potential deportation to Uganda.
Having entered the U.S. illegally in 2011, he has since faced ongoing legal challenges, even experiencing a moment where he was reportedly blown up for requesting a translator in a supportive gathering just before his custody.
After being released from a Tennessee jail last week, he had checked in at an ICE office in Baltimore early Monday morning.
Christie Noem from the Department of Homeland Security confirmed his arrest for deportation, emphasizing that the current administration will not tolerate illegal activities from members of gangs like MS-13, referring to Abrego Garcia as a trafficker and a domestic abuser.
He had been previously deported to El Salvador earlier this year but was brought back to the U.S. in June after the Trump administration’s large-scale deportation efforts. However, there were said to be “management errors” when he was deported.
Abrego Garcia was also allegedly offered the option to be sent to Costa Rica under certain conditions, raising suspicions about the motivations behind these immigration decisions. Sandoval Moshenberg criticized this tactic, suggesting that they’re using immigration policies unfairly.
Shortly after his check-in, ICE detained him, and he subsequently filed a lawsuit in Maryland, seeking an order to stop his deportation until he can contest it. “I hope the status meeting will happen quickly, and I’ll ask for a provisional order halting his deportation,” Sandoval-Moshenberg remarked.
The charges against Abrego Garcia are related to a traffic incident in 2022 in Tennessee, where he was stopped with several other individuals in a vehicle loaded with luggage. Despite suspicions of smuggling, he was not formally accused at that time.
Body cam footage from the incident showed him speaking broken English to the officers involved. His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sula, has publicly defended him and asserted his innocence. His legal team maintains that he has no affiliation with MS-13.
As for the specifics of his expected detention in Uganda, the Department of Homeland Security has not provided clarity.
