Judge postpones deportation of Salvadoran Kilmar Ábrego García

A federal judge halted the deportation to Uganda of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia and ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to keep him in the United States while it evaluates a new legal challenge against plans to send him to Africa.

In a brief hearing, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of the District of Maryland said Monday, August 25, 2025, that she will extend the stay of removal for the Salvadoran national, who was detained earlier in the morning by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Deportation Suspended

Xinis, who in April ordered the U.S. government to facilitate Abrego’s return from El Salvador after he was mistakenly deported there, asked whether the White House understood that it was prohibited from removing Abrego Garcia from the U.S. mainland, to which the Trump administration’s lawyer replied that it was, according to information cited by Politico.

However, on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem said in a statement that ICE “is processing” Abrego Garcia’s deportation.

The judge’s order marks a new twist in the saga of the Salvadoran, who was released on Friday, August 22, 2025 from a Nashville (Tennessee) jail, where he is facing trial on immigrant smuggling charges.

The immigrant’s advocates had filed an emergency motion to stop his removal after the U.S. government threatened his deportation to Uganda.

Or accept a plea bargain in the human trafficking case that would allow him to be deported to Costa Rica instead.

According to a previous Xinis court order, Abrego Garcia should have at least 72 hours to respond to a possible deportation order.

“Deporting him to Costa Rica is not justice. It is an acceptably less bad option.

“But for them to insist on carrying out a deportation to Uganda shows that the real motive in this case is not simply to get him out of the country, but to punish him and keep him in detention,” explained attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, who is part of his legal team representing the Salvadoran in the deportation case.

Abrego has received assurances that he will be a free citizen in Costa Rica, and would have refugee protection from deportation to El Salvador.

In his country of origin, according to his lawyers, he faces the risk of persecution and violence from the country’s gangs, which is why a judge prohibited his deportation in 2019, the defense attorney said.

In this regard, the judge stated that there are “several grounds” on which she could have jurisdiction to request deportation relief.

Including that Uganda has not agreed to offer Abrego protections such as freedom of transit, refugee status and a ban on being sent to El Salvador.

For the moment, Trump has limited himself to indicating that they have the situation “under control” despite the fact that the migrant’s lawyers “are doing things through a liberal court system.”

On Saturday, August 23, Abrego’s defense explained in a statement that the U.S. government was threatening to deport him to Uganda in order to get a plea deal that would allow him to be deported to Costa Rica instead.

Over the weekend, Abrego delivered two documents to the Administration.

The first designating Costa Rica as an “acceptable” country for deportation.

The second indicated “fear” of being transferred to Uganda because he had no guarantee of what his situation would be once in the country.

According to him, Abrego has received assurances that he will be a free citizen in Costa Rica, and would be protected as a refugee from being deported to El Salvador, his country of origin.

Kilmar Ábrego García is not assured of such guarantees in Uganda.

The Ugandan government announced earlier this week that it had reached an agreement with the Trump Administration to accept third-country deportees from the United States.

In the meantime, the deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García is suspended.