STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in federal custody and waiting to find out how long he may remain in the United States.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
He was deported by mistake to El Salvador, then returned to the U.S. Now the U.S. government says it will deport Abrego Garcia again. This time, though, to the African nation of Uganda. A judge says, not yet.
INSKEEP: NPR's Jasmine Garsd covers immigration, and she's covering this story. Jasmine, good morning.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: We've been following this case for months now. Where does it stand today?
GARSD: So as he entered a mandatory ICE check-in in Maryland yesterday, Abrego Garcia was immediately taken into immigration custody again, and now his attorneys are fighting to stop him from getting deported to Uganda, which his lawyers say is a purely vindictive move. In yesterday's court hearing, Federal Judge Paula Xinis gave a stern warning to the Department of Justice. She said until Abrego Garcia has had a chance to challenge the deportation in court, the government is absolutely forbidden from removing him from the U.S. Asked lawyers on both sides to agree on an expedited schedule for his case by today, and she said she would move as fast as is just.
INSKEEP: I'm looking at the wording that you gave us there, absolutely forbidden, the judge's words. I guess from her perspective, she would have reason to be stern on this point. What's the background of this case?
GARSD: Abrego Garcia's detention was really one of the first high-profile immigration cases of the Trump administration's crackdown. And at its center are questions about due process for undocumented immigrants. Some background - Abrego Garcia came from El Salvador to the U.S. illegally in 2011. He was 16 years old. He says he was escaping gang death threats there. And since he came to the U.S., he has not been convicted of any crimes. The Trump administration has accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang, which he has repeatedly denied. More recently, the government has indicted him on charges of human smuggling. He also denies that. What's really important here is that in 2019, an immigration court ruled that he cannot be deported back to El Salvador because of a well-founded fear of gang persecution there.
INSKEEP: And then, what is the way that he came to the attention of the Trump administration this year?
GARSD: The Trump administration sent him to a notorious prison in El Salvador. They admitted that his removal was a mistake. And after a lot of back and forth in the courts, he was eventually brought back to the U.S. in June to face new, unrelated charges of human smuggling, which stem from a traffic stop in Tennessee in 2022. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. He was released from federal custody last week, pending the criminal trial. And now he's in detention again.
INSKEEP: And just to understand the legal background here, the thing the government was forbidden to do was send him to El Salvador, where he faced a threat. So far as we know, they may well have the right to send him anywhere else in the world - Uganda, Costa Rica, anyplace else, right?
GARSD: Absolutely. You know, the U.S. has an agreement with Uganda, and it's - right now, that is what is being challenged in the courts.
INSKEEP: NPR's Jasmine Garsd. Thanks very much.
GARSD: Thank you so much, Steve.
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