ICE arrests Abrego Garcia at Maryland check-in, lawyer says

BALTIMORE, Md. – Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Kilmar Abrego-Garcia Monday morning, shortly after he arrived for a check-in at the agency’s field office in Baltimore, Maryland, his lawyer confirmed.

Abrego-Garcia’s legal fight for months has dominated U.S. headlines, after he was deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order. He faces a possible second deportation, this time to Uganda.

Shortly before his arrival Monday morning, immigration advocates, faith leaders, and other community members massed outside the field office at sunrise for a vigil, organized by two immigration advocacy groups.

The Trump administration returned him to the U.S. months after sending him to El Salvador, under orders from a federal judge and from the Supreme Court.

He was arrested upon return to the U.S. on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennesee. He remained in federal detention until Friday, when he was released from U.S. custody and ordered to return to Maryland, where a judge said he could remain under electronic surveillance and under ICE supervision while awaiting trial.

ICE officials notified Abrego-Garcia’s attorneys shortly after his release on Friday that they planned to deport him to Uganda, an East African nation that reached a deal with the U.S. last week to accept migrants deported by the Trump administration.

The notice, sent by ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Adviser, said it was intended to “serve as notice that DHS may remove your client, Kilmar Armando Abrego-Garcia, to Uganda no earlier than 72 hours from now (absent weekends).”

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told Fox News in an interview Sunday night that Abrego-Garcia was “absolutely” going to be deported from the U.S,, and said Uganda is “on the table” as the third country of removal. 

“We have an agreement with them. It’s on a table, absolutely,” Homan said in an interview on “The Big Weekend Show” Sunday evening.

“He is absolutely going to be deported,” Homan reiterated. 

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For now, he said, Abrego-Garcia “can enjoy the little time he has with his family. And for the person who says we’re not going to separate family, his family can go with him, because he’s leaving.”

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.