Trump Administration Targets Kilmar Abrego With Retaliatory Deportation to Uganda Despite Judge’s Due Process Concerns

Kilmar Abrego’s case has become a chilling symbol of the Trump administration’s reckless immigration agenda. Wrongfully deported once to El Salvador—a country where a U.S. court had already ruled he faced persecution—Abrego is again fighting for his right to remain with his family in Maryland. Now, immigration officials are threatening to deport him to Uganda, a country with which he has no ties. As his lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg explained, “We don’t know if Uganda will even let him walk around freely in Kampala or whether he’ll be inside of a Ugandan jail cell.”

This latest move, advocates say, exposes the cruelty of so-called “third-country removals,” where people are banished to places utterly foreign to them. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis expressed alarm at the lack of fairness in the process, noting “an absence of process” and warning that the government was not acting “in good faith and operating as they should.”

Abrego, a sheet metal worker and father raising U.S. citizen children, was greeted in Baltimore by chants of “Si se puede.” He spoke through tears about what keeps him going: “When I was detained, I always remembered beautiful moments with my family… Those moments will give me strength and hope to keep fighting.” His detention comes only days after reuniting with his wife and children following months of incarceration in a Salvadoran mega-prison.

Civil rights advocates say the administration is weaponizing deportation as retaliation. Andrea Flores, a former top immigration official, called the Uganda threat “completely unconstitutional,” stressing, “There is no legal, public safety or national security reason for this retaliatory deportation.” Abrego’s lawyers also revealed that officials offered him deportation to Costa Rica—but only if he pled guilty to unrelated charges—describing this as a coercive “carrot-and-stick” tactic.

Supporters argue this case embodies the broader abuses of Trump’s deportation machine: separating families, trampling constitutional protections, and using fear as a tool of control. Abrego’s fight is not just about one man—it highlights how easily due process can be discarded when political power is prioritized over human dignity.

As Abrego told reporters, his love for his family gives him strength. His community’s rallying cry—“Si se puede”—captures the determination to resist a system designed to break families apart.

Link: Reuters