The Department of Homeland Security has notified Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the high-profile illegal immigrant facing human smuggling charges, that he will be deported to the small southern African nation after his attorneys claimed he feared persecution in more than 20 other countries.
According to a removal notice obtained by Fox News from Immigration and Customs Enforcement sources, Abrego Garcia was informed that his new country of removal is Eswatini.
“Dear Mr. Abrego Garcia,” the notice reads, “As you know, the United States seeks to remove you from the United States based on your final order of removal. Currently, you are designated to be removed to Uganda. Your attorney has informed us, however, that you fear persecution or torture in Uganda.”
The agency added that Abrego Garcia’s claims stretched far beyond Uganda.
“That claim of fear is hard to take seriously, especially given that you have claimed (through your attorneys) that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 different countries,” the notice said.
The list includes El Salvador, Uganda, and 20 Latin American nations.
“Nonetheless, we hereby notify you that your new country of removal is Eswatini, Africa,” the notice continued.
DHS also shared a copy of the letter on its official X account, posting alongside it the caption: “Homie is afraid of the entire western hemisphere.”
Abrego Garcia, a native of El Salvador, was deported in March but returned to the United States in June. He is currently on trial for human smuggling tied to a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, when police say he was caught transporting several non-citizens across the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has alleged that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang. She also described him as a “human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator.”
He is being held at an immigration detention facility in Virginia after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee, ruled to temporarily block his deportation to Uganda.
Abrego Garcia has become a rallying point for Democrats and immigrant-rights advocates, who argue that his case shows the Trump administration’s disregard for due process in deportation proceedings.
Chris Newman, an attorney for Abrego Garcia’s family, denied the allegations.
“None of those things are true, full stop,” Newman told Fox News Digital.
He accused the administration of weaponizing the justice system.
“In essence, what the Trump administration has done is to use the highest office in the land to blackmail an innocent man into sacrificing his constitutional rights,” Newman said.
In a court filing on Saturday, Abrego’s attorneys said the Justice Department is urging him to accept a plea deal on two felony counts, with the promise that he would be deported to Costa Rica — where he would not face imprisonment — after serving any sentence, POLITICO reported.
“In conjunction with that proposal, the government produced a letter to Mr. Abrego’s counsel confirming that he could live freely in that country, which would accept him as a refugee or grant him residency status, and promise not to refoul him to El Salvador,” Abrego’s lawyers argued in court papers.
After Abrego rejected the proposal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials informed his attorneys that the government had decided instead to deport him to Uganda. They added that the option of deportation to Costa Rica would remain available only if he agreed to plead guilty by Monday, according to the filing.
“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,” Abrego’s attorney Sean Hecker wrote in the filing, per POLITICO.
The claims by Abrego’s attorneys were filed a day after his release from a Tennessee jail, where he had been held since returning to the United States in June.
