American judge Barbara Holmes released the Salvadoran Kilmar Ábrego this Friday and left a prison in Tennessee to reunite with his family in the state of Maryland, where he will face trial on charges of human trafficking.
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Abrego had been illegally sent by the Trump Administration to the pressure of CECOT in El Salvador, but the U.S. justice ordered his return at the beginning of June in one of the most prominent cases resulting from the Republican government’s policy against Latin American migrants.
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However, now the White House is threatening to deport Ábrego to Uganda, a country located in West Africa.
Why was Ábrego released?
Until yesterday, Ábrego was under federal custody in a prison in Putnam County, Tennessee, where he was arrested in 2022 during a traffic stop while transporting nine undocumented individuals.
The judge decreed that Ábrego be released into the custody of his brother and must appear before the morning of the next Monday, August 25th to face the preliminary phase of his trial in the state of Maryland, according to the ruling of the court reported by the news agency Bloomberg.
The document states that if a Salvadoran citizen is detained by immigration authorities in Maryland, they must have in-person and phone access to their lawyers in order to prepare their legal defense.
The prosecutors argue that Ábrego transported undocumented individuals in the United States on more than 100 trips between Texas, Maryland, and other states, and allege connections between Ábrego García and the criminal gang Mara Salvatrucha that the accused has categorically denied.
Trump’s government threatens to send you to Uganda
After Ábrego’s release, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, accused the judge of showing a “total disregard for the safety of the American people” by releasing the Salvadoran citizen. “We will not stop in our fight until this Salvadoran faces justice and leaves our country,” Noem said in a message from her social media account X.
In fact, a few hours after Ábrego was released on bail, his lawyers received a notification from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) threatening his possible deportation to Uganda “within a maximum period of 72 hours” starting from Monday.
ICE also informed Ábrego that he must report to their offices in Maryland this coming Monday, according to a copy of the notification published by Fox News.
The government of Uganda signed an agreement with the United States to accept deportations of citizens from third countries.