Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose wrongful deportation made him the face of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, wants to seek asylum in the U.S., his lawyer said Wednesday.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said during a hearing that Abrego Garcia has filed a motion to reopen his immigration proceedings and seek asylum in the country.
It’s a separate case from his bid to stave off deportation to Uganda, to which the government has said it plans to remove him.
As the parallel proceedings progress, Abrego Garcia will remain in the country — and in custody.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who oversees the deportation case, set an evidentiary hearing for Oct. 6 regarding the attempted third country removal and vowed to rule within 30 days.
Until then, she ordered the government not to deport him or detain him farther than 200 miles from the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Md.
Abrego Garcia was detained Monday morning in Baltimore by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), just days after he was freed from custody in a criminal case filed against him in federal court in Tennessee.
His lawyers argue he can’t be sent to Uganda until his fear of persecution and torture there is considered. He has signed documents notifying the government of that fear and designating Costa Rica as the country he wishes to be removed to, instead.
In the criminal case, he has claimed that the Trump administration’s efforts to send him to Uganda are proof he’s a target of selective and vindictive prosecution for challenging his wrongful deportation.
The Justice Department initially offered him a deal to plead guilty, serve any prison time and be deported to Costa Rica, but when he declined to extend his stay in jail, the government changed course and said he would be sent to Uganda, his lawyers claim.
Costa Rica has assured it would accept him as a lawful immigrant and not send him back to El Salvador, his home country that he fled out of fear for his safety. Uganda has not provided the same assurances, according to his lawyers.
Abrego Garcia’s case became a flashpoint in the administration’s intensified efforts to expel noncitizens from the U.S., after he was wrongfully sent to El Salvador despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation there because of safety concerns.
Xinis ordered the government to reply to Abrego Garcia’s motion by Sept. 22 and set a Sept. 29 due date for Abrego Garcia’s response. Both parties must provide a witness list for the hearing by Oct. 2.
Updated 10:35 a.m.
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