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Garcia, who leftists and the mainstream press have labeled the “Maryland Man,” was briefly freed from custody late last week. He was instructed to appear for a Monday hearing in Baltimore. What his defenders didn’t expect was ICE agents waiting to take him back into custody the moment his court appointment ended.
Not surprisingly, his legal team lashed out at the decision.
“There was no need to take him into ICE detention,” attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg complained to NBC News. “The only reason they took him into detention was to punish him.”
But what exactly is the “punishment”? The Trump administration argues that Americans are the ones being punished every time violent offenders are shielded by loopholes in the immigration system.
Before he was detained, Garcia even held a press event with his attorneys, friends, and activist supporters. Speaking in Spanish, he portrayed himself as a victim.
“My name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and I want you to remember this, remember that I am free and I was able to be reunited with my family,” he said.
He added: “This was a miracle. Thank you to God and thank you to the community. I want to thank each and every one of you who marched, lift your voices, never stop praying and continue to fight in my name.”
The Department of Homeland Security, however, had already informed his attorneys last week that deportation was imminent. According to CNN, DHS sent out a formal notice stating Garcia could be removed to Uganda.
“Let this email serve as notice that DHS may remove your client, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, to Uganda no earlier than 72 hours from now (absent weekends),” the notice read.
His attorneys called the deportation order “retaliation” from the Trump administration.
“The government’s decision to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda makes it painfully clear that they are using the immigration system to punish him for exercising his constitutional rights,” Sandoval-Moshenberg told CNN.
He further complained: “There is a perfectly reasonable option available, Costa Rica, where he his family can visit him easily, but instead they are attempting to send him halfway across the world, to a country with documented human rights abuses and where he does not even speak the language. This is not justice; it is retaliation.”
Meanwhile, reports surfaced that Garcia was recently offered a plea deal by federal prosecutors. That deal included deportation to Costa Rica, but Garcia turned it down. His lawyer insists he refused because he would not admit guilt to crimes he claims he didn’t commit.
In rejecting the plea, Garcia may have sealed his fate. Instead of being sent to a Spanish-speaking country closer to his family, he now faces removal to Uganda.
The Trump administration’s message is clear: when it comes to criminal aliens, no amount of political activism, legal maneuvering, or media spin will be enough to shield them from justice.
