Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvadoran construction worker wrongfully deported to a notorious prison earlier this year, now faces deportation to Uganda after declining a government plea deal that would have sent him to Costa Rica instead.

According to court documents filed Saturday in federal court in Tennessee, the government’s offer came late Thursday evening, just hours before Abrego Garcia’s scheduled release from a Tennessee detention facility. Prosecutors promised that if he agreed to extend his detention until Monday and plead guilty to conspiracy charges, he would be deported to Costa Rica after serving any sentence imposed by the court.

Abrego Garcia declined to extend his stay in custody and was released Friday afternoon to await his January 2026 trial in Maryland with his family. Within minutes of his release, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials notified his attorneys that he would instead be deported to Uganda and must report to their Baltimore office by Monday morning.

In their court filing, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys describe the government’s actions as a coordinated campaign of retribution across multiple federal agencies. “There can be only one interpretation of these events: the DOJ, DHS, 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,” wrote attorney Sean Hecker.

The defense argues that the dramatic shift from offering Costa Rica to threatening Uganda deportation within 24 hours violates constitutional protections against vindictive prosecution. “The government reacted with outrage to Mr. Abrego’s release,” the filing states, noting that “despite having requested and received assurances from the government of Costa Rica that Mr. Abrego would be accepted there, within minutes of his release from pretrial custody, an ICE representative informed Mr. Abrego’s counsel that the government intended to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda.”

The Department of Homeland Security has taken a sharply different stance, with Secretary Kristi Noem condemning Abrego Garcia’s release and labeling him “a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, wife beater, and child predator” despite his lack of criminal convictions in the United States.

DHS officials point to a 2019 validation by Prince George’s County Police alleging MS-13 membership and claim he was found with drugs and large amounts of cash, though these allegations have never been tested in court. The agency has also cited a protective order filed by his wife for alleged assault.

Despite a 2019 immigration court order protecting him from deportation to El Salvador due to credible fears of gang persecution, he was sent to the country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison in March.

The Trump administration later admitted this was an “administrative error,” but Abrego Garcia spent months in the facility described by human rights activists as rife with abuses. Following successful legal challenges, he was returned to the United States in June, only to face federal human smuggling charges based on a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop where he was originally released without charges.

This week, Abrego Garcia’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss all charges, arguing the case represents “vindictive and selective prosecution” designed to punish him for successfully challenging his illegal deportation. The motion acknowledges such challenges “are infrequently made and rarely successful” but argues “if there has ever been a case for dismissal on those grounds, this is that case”.

The attorneys contend that rather than admit error and return Abrego Garcia quietly, the government launched “a public campaign to punish Mr. Abrego for resisting” his wrongful removal. They note that even a lead prosecutor reportedly resigned over concerns the charges were politically motivated.

Earlier this week, Uganda announced it had reached an agreement with the Trump administration to accept third-country deportees from the United States. The African country’s foreign minister stated Uganda would not accept “individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors” and preferred individuals from African countries.