Kristi Noem rages over Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release as ICE warns he may be deported to Uganda
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has branded Kilmar Abrego Garcia a “monster” after a judge allowed the Maryland father, who was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration, to return home Friday after a four-month legal battle.
The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia in March, accusing the Salvadoran national of being a MS-13 gang member — a label he and his attorneys have rejected — and sent him to a brutal Salvadoran megaprison. In June, he was moved to Tennessee, where a grand jury indicted him on federal smuggling charges.
He was released from a Tennessee jail Friday as he awaits criminal trial. But within minutes of his release, Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Abrego Garcia he may be deported to Uganda, his attorneys said.
He has been ordered to report to ICE’s Baltimore field office Monday morning, according to court documents. A federal judge in Maryland, who is overseeing his wrongful deportation case, has required the government to give him 72 hours’ notice if it plans to initiate deportation proceedings.
The case, which has been at the center of Trump’s migrant deportation agenda, was blasted by Noem. She accused the judge of “disregarding” Americans’ safety and called him a “monster.”
“Activist liberal judges have attempted to obstruct our law enforcement every step of the way in removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our country,” the DHS chief wrote on X Friday.
“By ordering this monster loose on America’s streets, this judge has shown a complete disregard for the safety of the American people,” she continued. “We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country.”
Noem regularly uses inflammatory language about migrants as she implements the president’s anti-immigration agenda. DHS is facing a barrage of lawsuits over its aggressive deportation effort.
Last month, a federal judge ordered Abrego Garcia’s pretrial release after the government failed to provide “any evidence” that warrants his detention.
His lawyers celebrated his release Friday but warned that he wasn’t in the clear yet.
On Thursday, the government said if he stayed in custody through Monday and pleaded guilty to both counts in the criminal indictment, then he would be removed to Costa Rica, after serving any time imposed by the court, his lawyers wrote in a Saturday filing. Costa Rica assured he could “live freely” as a refugee or with residency status and wouldn’t be sent back to his home country, the lawyers said. He refused the extended stay and was released Friday.
DHS then sent an email to Abrego Garcia’s attorneys Friday, warning that ICE intended to deport the Salvadoran immigrant to Uganda “no earlier than 72 hours from now” and ordered he appear at an ICE filed office in Baltimore on Monday.
His lawyers accused the Justice Department and DHS of “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.”
Uganda and the U.S. reached a temporary deal in which the African country agreed to accept people “who may not be granted asylum in the United States but are reluctant to or may have concerns about returning to their countries of origin,” Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday. However, that deal excludes individuals with criminal records.
