Maryland Man Battles Trump Administration’s Deportation to Uganda, Renews Bid for Asylum in US

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was incorrectly deported to El Salvador and subsequently returned to the US to face federal criminal charges, has submitted a renewed application for asylum in the United States. This move could potentially delay any potential deportation by the administration.

Should an immigration judge grant Abrego Garcia’s request to reconsider his asylum claims, they would be legally prevented from removing him from the US until a resolution is reached on his renewed application under federal law.

The Department of Justice has acknowledged in court filings that they will allow Abrego Garcia’s request for reconsideration of his asylum claims to proceed before any potential deportation. Currently, officials are barred from deporting him due to other court-imposed orders.

A source familiar with Abrego Garcia’s case stated, “If the motion is granted, it marks a significant shift. We’re essentially in a different realm.”

The granting of asylum by an immigration judge would enable Abrego Garcia to remain in the US permanently.

Abrego Garcia left El Salvador years ago to escape gang violence and first applied for asylum in the US in 2019. However, his application was denied by an immigration judge that year, on the grounds that it was filed more than 12 months after his entry into the US in 2012, making it invalid.

The judge did, however, grant Abrego Garcia a withholding of removal, which was intended to prohibit officials from deporting him back to El Salvador. This order was violated earlier this year when Abrego Garcia, who has been accused by Trump administration officials of being a member of the gang MS-13, was sent by US authorities to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, where his attorneys claim he was subjected to torture.

He was returned to the US in June to face federal human smuggling charges, and the Trump administration has recently expressed intentions to deport him again, this time to a third country, such as Uganda. These plans have sparked a fresh legal challenge from Abrego Garcia aimed at slowing down these efforts and ensuring his due process rights are not violated by immigration officials once more.

A hearing for this case is scheduled for Wednesday morning.