The Trump administration has announced plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the tiny African kingdom of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland. This information came to light through an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) email obtained by CBS News. The email, sent by a senior ICE official, indicated that Abrego Garcia's attorneys have expressed significant concerns regarding his safety, claiming he fears persecution and torture in Uganda, the country where federal authorities threatened to deport him last month after he was detained again by immigration officials.
Abrego Garcia, whose case has drawn considerable attention, reportedly fears being harmed if deported to over 20 countries, the majority of which are located in Latin America. The ICE official noted in the email that they found these claims difficult to take seriously, yet proceeded to notify that Abrego Garcia's new country of removal was now set to be Eswatini, Africa.
The deportation to Eswatini represents at least the fourth possible destination considered for Abrego Garcia, a native of El Salvador. His situation is compounded by a previous mistaken deportation in March, which saw him held in a notorious Salvadoran prison before being returned to the U.S. in June, where he faced federal smuggling charges. Notably, Eswatini is Africa's only remaining absolute monarchy and has accepted deportees from the U.S. who are not its citizens. Earlier this year, the U.S. sent a group of deportees convicted of violent crimes to Eswatini, where reports indicate that they are being held incommunicado.
After being released from pre-trial jail last month, Abrego Garcia was almost immediately detained again by ICE during a routine check-in appointment in Baltimore, where officials began processing him for deportation to Uganda. His legal team has contested this move, asserting that the government offered him deportation to Costa Rica instead, contingent upon his agreement to a plea deal regarding his smuggling charges. Moreover, federal authorities have suggested a potential legal pathway to deport him back to El Salvador for a second time, despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that prohibited such action due to the risk of gang-related persecution.
Despite the previous legal protections, Abrego Garcia was erroneously deported to El Salvador in March. Government attorneys have acknowledged this administrative error. A senior official from the Trump administration remarked that Abrego Garcia's legal team is "playing with fire," implying that attempts to reopen his immigration case might inadvertently facilitate his return to El Salvador.
Currently, Abrego Garcia is in ICE custody in Virginia while his attorneys challenge both his criminal charges and ongoing deportation proceedings. A federal judge in Maryland has paused his potential deportation to Uganda until at least next month. Concurrently, Abrego Garcia is pursuing asylum in the U.S., which is a legal status granted to individuals who can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country.
In a recent immigration court filing, government lawyers requested that a judge deny Abrego Garcia’s plea to reopen his immigration case for asylum or other legal protections, such as a green card based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen. The administration claims that Abrego Garcia is ineligible for asylum due to alleged ties to the gang MS-13, which the State Department classifies as a foreign terrorist organization. Abrego Garcia has vehemently denied any association with MS-13 and has pleaded not guilty to his smuggling charges, which his attorneys have labeled as vindictive.
Abrego Garcia's case has also been complicated by a domestic violence complaint filed by his wife in 2021, although she later decided not to pursue the matter further. Notably, Abrego Garcia was never criminally charged in relation to this complaint. His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, expressed confidence that if Abrego Garcia receives a fair trial in immigration court, he will prevail in his asylum claim, especially given the allegations of torture he faced in El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison earlier this year. The only reason he was denied asylum previously was due to a failure to file within one year of entering the U.S., a problem that the government is now addressing.
