by Anita Wadhwani, Tennessee Lookout
August 23, 2025

NASHVILLE —The Trump administration may deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he rejected a last-minute deal to remain in jail, plead guilty to human smuggling charges and be deported to Costa Rica, a legal notice filed Saturday by his attorneys said.

The behind-the-scenes ultimatum bolsters claims that Abrego is the target of “selective and vindictive prosecution” by the government after he contested his wrongful deportation to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador prison in March, Abrego’s lawyers wrote.

Abrego was released Friday to await trial in January on human smuggling charges in Tennessee and returned to Maryland, where the sheet metal apprentice lives with his wife and children. His wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March has brought ongoing scrutiny to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown tactics. Abrego has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

In a deal offered by the government late Thursday, it promised to deport Abrego to Costa Rica where he could live freely if he remained jailed until Monday, pleaded guilty to the Tennessee human smuggling charges and served the sentence imposed by the court, his attorneys wrote. The government of Costa Rica had agreed to take him, the filing said.

Abrego’s attorneys informed the Acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire, who is prosecuting the Tennessee case, they would “of course, communicate the government’s proposal to Mr. Abrego” but declined to agree to a demand that he remain incarcerated until Monday.

Abrego was released shortly after 2 p.m. Friday from a detention facility in Putnam County, Tenn. Within minutes of Abrego’s release, a representative of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, informed his attorneys they intended to deport him to Uganda and ordered him to report to the agency’s field office in Baltimore, his attorneys wrote. 

“The only thing that happened between Thursday — Costa Rica — and Friday — Uganda — was Mr. Abrego’s exercise of his legal entitlement to release under the Bail Reform Act and the Fifth Amendment,” his attorneys wrote.

Government officials again, late Friday evening, informed Abrego he has until first thing Monday morning to accept a plea in exchange for deportation to Costa Rica “or else that offer will be off the table forever.”

“There can be only one interpretation of these events: the (Department of Justice) and ICE are using their collective powers to force Mr. Abrego to choose between a guilty plea followed by relative safety, or rendition to Uganda, where his safety and liberty would be under threat,” Abrego’s attorneys wrote.

Attorneys for Abrego have already filed a motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him, calling the case a clear example of “selective and vindictive prosecution” by the Trump administration in legal filings last week.

The ultimatums offered by the Trump administration serve to underscore Abrego’s allegations that it is acting with vindictiveness towards him, their latest legal filing said.

The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security “are obviously working in lockstep to coerce Mr. Abrego into accepting a guilty plea in his criminal case, holding over his head the prospect of possible indefinite detention — or worse — in a country halfway across the world,” the attorneys wrote. “It is difficult to imagine a path the government could have taken that would have better emphasized its vindictiveness.”

113

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

The post Government offered Costa Rica deal to Kilmar Abrego Garcia; now plans to send him to Uganda appeared first on tennesseelookout.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

The content critiques the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement practices, highlighting allegations of “selective and vindictive prosecution” and government overreach. The language used by Abrego’s attorneys, as well as the focus on potential human rights concerns and legal protections, suggests a perspective more sympathetic to immigrant rights and skeptical of authoritarian government tactics, which is generally aligned with center-left viewpoints. However, the reporting remains largely factual and does not use overtly partisan language, maintaining some journalistic balance.