By Timothy Sekerak
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was notified by immigration authorities that he may be deported to Uganda, according to reports.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified Garcia‘s lawyers on Friday that he may be deported to Uganda and requested for him to report to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, according to an email obtained by Bill Melugin of Fox News.
“Please let this email serve as notice that DHS may remove your client, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, to Uganda no earlier than 72 hours from now (absent weekends),” the notice said.
BREAKING: Per DHS & ICE sources, this afternoon, DHS notified Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s counsel via email that ICE may deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda “no earlier than 72 hours from now”, & ICE is also ordering him to report to ICE’s Baltimore office on Monday. Notifications below 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/CLQSm78JfX
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 22, 2025
This notice comes after Garcia was released from a Tennessee jail on Friday after being detained for months on human smuggling charges. (RELATED: Prosecutors Give Abrego Garcia’s Attorneys The One Thing They Were Hoping For)
Garcia gained national attention after he was deported to an El Salvador high-security prison in March. President Donald Trump‘s administration would later admit his deportation was an “administrative error,” according to court documents.
Garcia, who is an illegal migrant, allegedly smuggled migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador and elsewhere into the U.S. between 2016 and 2025, according to his indictment. The case stems from a Tennessee Highway Patrol stop in 2022, where police discovered nine undocumented passengers without any luggage in his vehicle and suspected him of smuggling.
Federal judges in Tennessee approved Garcia’s pre-trial release in July, but it was put on a 30-day hold. Officials in the Trump administration opposed his release based on his “danger to the community and the risk of flight.”
Prior to his release, Garcia reportedly declined an offer that would have involved him being sent to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges, according to a court filing obtained by the New York Post.
