In a legal and political saga that’s drawn international attention, the Trump administration has announced plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national at the center of a heated immigration battle, to Eswatini, Africa—an unexpected twist in a case already marked by controversy, shifting government strategies, and allegations of human rights abuses. Abrego Garcia, who was living with his wife and children in Maryland before his ordeal began, is currently detained at a facility in Farmville, Virginia, as his fate hangs in the balance.
The latest development came on September 5, 2025, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) notified Abrego Garcia’s attorneys via email that the government now intends to send him to Eswatini. This marks a sharp reversal from earlier statements, in which the Trump administration said it would seek to remove him to El Salvador if a judge granted his request to reopen his immigration case. ICE officials questioned the credibility of Abrego Garcia’s fear of persecution, noting he had cited fears in at least 22 countries, including El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys swiftly responded, highlighting the dangers he would face in Eswatini. They argued that “third-country nationals previously removed from the United States to Eswatini have all been detained in extremely harsh and tortuous conditions; that country has a well-documented record of human rights violations.” They further warned that Eswatini had provided no assurances against deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, where he “already experienced torture and will experience torture again,” according to ABC News.
This legal back-and-forth follows a tumultuous year for Abrego Garcia. In March 2025, he was deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison despite a 2019 court order barring his removal to that country over credible fears of persecution. The Trump administration has repeatedly accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang, a charge his family and legal team adamantly deny. After several months in El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States in June 2025 to face human trafficking charges in Tennessee, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was released into his brother’s custody in Maryland, only to be detained again by immigration authorities, who indicated their intent to deport him once more.
A federal judge intervened last month, blocking Abrego Garcia’s deportation until at least early October 2025. The government, however, has not relented. In a court filing on September 4, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that if Abrego Garcia’s case is reopened, they will pursue his removal to El Salvador, effectively nullifying the prior withholding of removal order from 2019. The government also argued that his imprisonment at CECOT was “both a lawful sanction and one not specifically intended to cause the requisite pain or suffering,” and dismissed concerns about El Salvador’s gang-targeting tactics, claiming they “do not reflect the ultimate treatment” Abrego Garcia received.
Abrego Garcia’s own account of his time in CECOT, detailed in a court filing on September 3, 2025, paints a much darker picture. He alleged that he suffered “psychological torture” and “severe beatings” after his arrival, describing how he was kicked and hit so often that he had visible bruises and lumps by the next day. He recounted being forced, along with 20 others, to kneel all night long, with guards hitting anyone who fell. “Detainees at CECOT were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation,” he said in the filing, as reported by CBS News. After more than three weeks, he was transferred to a different area and photographed with mattresses and better food—conditions he believes were staged for appearances.
These allegations are not isolated. Human rights groups have documented hundreds of deaths and numerous cases of torture in Salvadoran prisons, especially following President Nayib Bukele’s state of emergency, which has led to the detention of more than 1% of El Salvador’s population in a sweeping crackdown on gangs. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have characterized his over three-week stint at CECOT as “torture,” and his account aligns with reports from other Salvadorans detained under the same policy.
President Bukele, however, has forcefully denied these claims. On September 5, 2025, he posted on the social media platform X that Abrego Garcia “wasn’t tortured, nor did he lose weight,” sharing photos and videos from earlier in the year showing Abrego Garcia in detention. “If he’d been tortured, sleep-deprived, and starved, why does he look so well in every picture?” Bukele wrote, pushing back against the mounting criticism.
As the legal drama unfolds, Abrego Garcia’s eligibility for asylum has become a focal point. In 2019, he was denied asylum solely because he failed to apply within one year of arriving in the United States, but was granted withholding of removal due to credible fears of gang violence. Now, having reentered the U.S. in June 2025, his lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg argues that he is eligible to apply for asylum anew, since the one-year clock has reset. “The only reason that Mr. Abrego Garcia was denied asylum was that he had failed to apply within one year of arriving in the United States as required,” Sandoval-Moshenberg told Politico. “Now, Mr. Abrego Garcia has returned to the United States less than one year ago, and so is eligible to apply.”
Legal experts, including Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council, believe Abrego Garcia has a strong claim for asylum based on his allegations of past torture by the Salvadoran government. “Mr. Abrego Garcia has plausibly alleged that he was tortured by the Salvadoran government, so proving past persecution seems easy,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote on X. However, he cautioned that the discretionary nature of asylum remains a significant barrier, and the case is “likely to drag out for years.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration remains resolute. A senior official told Rolling Stone, “We are not going to stop coming after him. If this criminal wanted amnesty, he should have prayed for Kamala to win. She didn’t. President Trump did… He isn’t getting away.” The administration has also floated the possibility of deporting Abrego Garcia to Uganda, a country he has never visited and which the U.S. State Department warns against traveling to due to violent crime and terrorism.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who is overseeing Abrego Garcia’s lawsuits against the administration, has expressed a sense of urgency, stating, “All indications point to me that we need to get this part of Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case moving.” She has kept an order in place preventing his removal outside the continental United States while his new suit is unresolved.
As the legal wrangling continues, Abrego Garcia’s wife has filed a lawsuit in Maryland federal court against the Trump administration, seeking justice for his deportation and alleged mistreatment. The administration, for its part, has asked for the suit’s dismissal, arguing that returning him to the U.S. as ordered by the court renders the case moot.
With the clock ticking and the stakes higher than ever, the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia stands as a stark illustration of the complexities, contradictions, and human costs at the heart of America’s immigration system—and the fierce political battles that continue to shape its future.
