Trump administration now plans to deport Abrego Garcia to Eswatini, Africa

Source: ABC News

Trump administration now plans to deport Abrego Garcia to Eswatini, Africa

He is currently detained at a detention center in Virginia.

By Laura Romero
September 5, 2025, 6:28 PM

After the Trump administration previously said it would seek to remove Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to El Salvador if a judge granted his attorneys' request to reopen his immigration case, the government said on Friday it now plans to deport him to Eswatini, Africa.

The update came in an email from an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Abrego Garcia's attorneys, saying that his claim of fear of persecution in Uganda is "hard to take seriously" because he also claimed fear of persecution or torture in at least 22 other countries. … The countries listed in the email include El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti.

In response, Abrego Garcia's attorneys sent an email to ICE notifying the agency that Abrego Garcia also "expresses a fear of torture and persecution upon removal to Eswatini."

"Third-country nationals previously removed from the United States to Eswatini have all been detained in extremely harsh and tortuous conditions; that country has a well-documented record of human rights violations," his attorneys said. "[And] to our knowledge, Eswatini has offered no guarantees that it will not promptly deport Mr. Abrego Garcia to El Salvador where he already experienced torture and will experience torture again."

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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/trump-administration-warns-deport-kilmar-abrego-garcia-el/story?id=125302355

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Hat tip, WMAR, the ABC affiliate in Baltimore, during the local evening news
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ORIGINAL:

Trump administration warns it may deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador

He is currently detained at a detention center in Virginia.

ByLaura Romero
September 5, 2025, 4:11 PM ET
6 min read

The Trump administration will seek to remove Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador again if a judge grants his attorneys' request to reopen his immigration case, according to a copy of a court filing obtained by ABC News.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison -- despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.

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A federal judge last month blocked Abrego Garcia's deportation until at least early October. He is currently detained at a detention center in Farmville, Virginia.

The court filing, submitted to the Baltimore Immigration Court on Thursday, was filed after Abrego Garcia's attorneys moved to reopen his case to seek asylum. ... "Should the Immigration Court grant the respondent's motion to reopen, DHS will pursue the respondent's removal to El Salvador, as his prior grant of withholding of removal will no longer be valid," the government said in the filing on Thursday.

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