In a case that has become a lightning rod in the debate over U.S. immigration policy, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who has lived in Maryland for more than a decade, now faces deportation to Eswatini, a small African nation. The move, announced by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and reported by several major outlets including AP, NBC News, and UPI, comes after a protracted legal battle, allegations of wrongful deportation, and a swirl of accusations and counterclaims involving some of the thorniest issues in American immigration law.
On September 6, 2025, ICE notified Abrego Garcia’s attorneys that, due to his stated fear of persecution or torture in Uganda, the agency would instead seek to deport him to Eswatini. The letter, first reported by Fox News and confirmed by The Hill, stated, “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. Nonetheless, we hereby notify you that your new country of removal is Eswatini, Africa.”
Abrego Garcia, 30, is currently being held at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia. He has no ties to Eswatini, a landlocked nation of about 1.2 million people, formerly known as Swaziland. According to UPI, his attorneys have raised concerns about the plan, arguing that Eswatini has a well-documented record of human rights violations and that previous deportees have been detained there in “extremely harsh and torturous conditions.” They also warned that the country has offered no guarantee that it would not immediately deport Abrego Garcia back to El Salvador, where he claims he was previously tortured.
Abrego Garcia’s legal saga is complex and deeply entangled with the Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration enforcement. He first entered the United States illegally around 2011, fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. After settling in Maryland, he married an American woman and became a father. He worked as a sheet metal apprentice and lived under federal supervision, checking in with ICE annually and holding a federal work permit, according to NBC News.
In 2019, an immigration court found that Abrego Garcia had a credible fear of threats from gangs in El Salvador and barred his deportation to his home country. However, in March 2025, he was mistakenly deported there anyway—a move that government attorneys later described as an administrative error. He was held in El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, a mega-prison known for harsh conditions. Abrego Garcia claims he was beaten and psychologically tortured during his imprisonment, though El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has denied these allegations.
The wrongful deportation triggered a court-ordered return to the United States. In June 2025, following rulings by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis and the Supreme Court, Abrego Garcia was brought back to the U.S., rejoining his family briefly before being taken back into ICE custody. He was also charged with human smuggling based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, a charge to which he has pleaded not guilty. His legal team has characterized the prosecution as “vindictive,” arguing that the government is attempting to coerce him into a guilty plea. According to Reuters, the administration even offered to deport him to Costa Rica if he pleaded guilty, or to Uganda if he did not.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of the MS-13 gang, a designated foreign terrorist organization. This allegation, which stems from a 2019 police stop in Prince George’s County, Maryland, has been repeatedly denied by Abrego Garcia and his attorneys. He was never charged with gang membership, and the claim is based on a confidential informant’s identification of him and others outside a Home Depot as possible gang members due to their clothing and tattoos. Despite the lack of charges, the Department of Homeland Security has used the allegation as a key argument against his eligibility for asylum or other relief.
Abrego Garcia’s efforts to secure asylum have faced numerous obstacles. His initial request was denied in 2019 because it was filed more than a year after his arrival in the U.S. However, his attorneys contend that since he was deported and has now re-entered the country, he is newly eligible to apply. “If Mr. Abrego Garcia is allowed a fair trial in immigration court, there’s no way he’s not going to prevail on his claim for asylum,” said his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg in a statement quoted by AP. Immigration experts cited by NBC News have said that a successful new asylum application could put Abrego Garcia on a path to a green card and ultimately citizenship. Yet, reopening his 2019 case also carries the risk that the government could pursue his removal to El Salvador, as the original deportation bar would become void.
The Trump administration’s decision to designate Eswatini as the country of removal is notable for several reasons. Eswatini, which gained independence from Britain in 1968 and was known as Swaziland until 2018, is governed by a monarch and has a mixed record on human rights. According to UPI, the U.S. sent a deportation flight to Eswatini in July 2025 carrying five men with criminal convictions, as the country is one of the few African nations willing to accept migrants deported from the U.S. in recent months. Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda have also indicated willingness to accept such deportees.
Adding to the confusion, Eswatini’s government spokesperson told AP on September 6, 2025, that it had received no communication regarding Abrego Garcia’s transfer. This raises questions about whether the deportation can proceed as planned, or if it is primarily a legal maneuver to sidestep Abrego Garcia’s claims of fear in other countries.
For now, Abrego Garcia remains in ICE custody in Virginia as his legal battle continues. On August 27, Judge Xinis temporarily blocked his deportation until at least October, pending resolution of his latest challenge. A hearing is set for October 6, with a ruling expected within 30 days. Meanwhile, he must remain within a 200-mile radius of the court in Maryland, though the detention center is 218 miles away.
As the case unfolds, it has become emblematic of the broader tensions and complexities in America’s immigration system. With accusations flying, legal technicalities piling up, and the fate of a man and his family hanging in the balance, the story of Kilmar Abrego Garcia continues to capture national attention—and spark debate over what justice and due process should look like in the U.S. immigration courts.
Whether Abrego Garcia will find safety, justice, or simply another round of bureaucratic limbo remains to be seen. For now, he and his legal team wait for the next chapter in a saga that has already crossed continents, courtrooms, and political fault lines.
