The Daily Populous Monday August 25th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by NewSlinger

BALTIMORE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who reunited with his family last week after 160 days apart following his mistaken deportation to El Salvador, was taken into ICE custody on Monday after an immigration check-in, his attorney said.

The check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore was part of the conditions of his release Friday from federal custody.

While such meetings are usually routine and meant for case updates, Abrego's attorneys said they expected he would be taken into ICE custody during the check-in after the Trump administration announced over the weekend its intention to deport him to Uganda.

"There was no need to take him into ICE detention. ... The only reason they took him into detention was to punish him," for using his constitutional right to speak up and fight proceedings, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego's attorneys, said Monday morning.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said Friday that a notice for Monday's meeting indicated it would be an interview.

"Clearly that was false," he added.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, appears for a check-in at the ICE Baltimore field office three days after his release from criminal custody in Tennessee, in Baltimore, Md., on Aug. 25, 2025 Elizabeth Frantz / Reuters

He said that lawyers asked ICE officers why Abrego was taken into custody and that the officers would not answer. The ICE officers would also not give information about where Abrego is going, Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

As of Monday afternoon, Sandoval-Moshenberg said he does not know where Abrego is, but that he is expecting to get information on Abrego’s whereabouts on Monday night or Tuesday.

"The fact that they're holding Costa Rica as a carrot and using Uganda as a stick to try to coerce him to plead guilty to a crime is such clear evidence that they're weaponizing the immigration system in a matter that is completely unconstitutional, and specifically weaponizing the decision of which country they send him to," Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said at a later news conference that the district of Maryland has entered a two-day administrative stay of removal for Abrego, which means that he cannot be removed from the U.S. through Wednesday.

The White House confirmed Monday's arrest and said ICE officials are "processing him for deportation." The White House X account did not offer more details about Abrego's future.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said Monday that Abgrego has filed a new lawsuit in federal district court for the district of Maryland "seeking to ensure that he is not removed from the United States pending his immigration proceedings."

The lawsuit asks a Maryland federal judge to issue an order that Abrego not be allowed to be removed from the United States, unless he is given proper due process to fight his potential deportation.

The suit challenges Abrego's deportation to Uganda or any other country unless and until he's had a fair trial, Sandoval-Moshenberg said. He later argued that deporting his client to any country without any credible assurances that he can stay there would be "just a very inconvenient layover to El Salvador."

A hearing for the new case will take place in Maryland at 2 p.m. Monday, Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

"We're going to be asking the judge to enter an order preventing him from being deported while he's waiting on his legal immigration proceedings to determine whether or not he may be deported," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. "That's all we're going to be asking for today."

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who is handling another of Abrego's cases, will preside over the hearing, Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

Abrego spoke at a news conference before heading into his ICE appointment on Monday morning, surrounded by family, supporters, faith leaders and his legal team, who were all calling for his freedom.

"My name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and I want you to remember this, remember that I am free and I was able to be reunited with my family," he said in Spanish before a translator repeated in English.

"This was a miracle. Thank you to God and thank you to the community," Abrego added. "I want to thank each and every one of you who marched, lift your voices, never stop praying and continue to fight in my name."

Abrego was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, in violation of a 2019 court order. After much legal resistance, he was returned to the U.S. in June and hit with human smuggling charges out of Tennessee, which he pleaded not guilty to.

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Abrego of being a gang member part of the notorious MS-13, which his attorneys have denied. Abrego’s lawyers have said he illegally immigrated to the U.S. when he was 16 to join his brother in Maryland to escape gang violence in El Salvador.

The Trump administration offered Abrego a plea deal last week, his lawyers said in a Saturday court filing that was part of their efforts to get the charges in Tennessee dropped over what they consider to be "vindictive" and "selective" prosecution.

If he pleads guilty to the federal charges out of Tennessee and serves time, he can be deported to Costa Rica. The Costa Rican government said he'd live as a free man there, according to the filing.

Before Monday morning's appointment, Sandoval-Moshenberg said his client would not be taking the plea deal as Abrego "will not accept charges of which he's not guilty." This means the agreement to be deported to Costa Rica could be off the table.

Abrego's attorneys rebuffed the Trump administration's apparent attempt to strong-arm him.

"What they’re trying to do here is punish him. They’re trying to use the deportation system, and specifically, they’re trying to use which country they’re planning on deporting him to as a means of punishing him for exercising his constitutional rights," Sandoval-Moshenberg said Saturday outside Abrego's brother's home in Maryland.

Gary Grumbach reported from Baltimore, Marlene Lenthang from Los Angeles, and Rebecca Cohen from New York.

WkndCake on August 25th, 2025 at 12:49 UTC »

They're treating a pedo like Ghislane Maxwell better than this poor guy. Seems like most Americans voted on entertainment value instead of actual policy for their country.

Americans, are you entertained?

DontTickleTheDriver1 on August 25th, 2025 at 12:30 UTC »

This administration believes how they've handled this entire debacle makes them look strong when it's actually made them look completely inept, unorganized and just plain cruel. Amazing that anyone would want to still support this dumbass President but hey here we are.

NewSlinger on August 25th, 2025 at 12:26 UTC »

> The check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore was part of the conditions of his Friday release from federal custody on parole.

What was the point of releasing him if they were just going to arrest him later? Cruel.