The check-in was part of conditions for Abrego’s release from federal custody on parole last Friday (August 22) and while meetings are typically routine and intended for case updates, his detainment came days after President Donald Trump claimed he intended to deport Abrego to Uganda.
“There was no need to take him into ICE detention … the only reason they took him into detention was to punish him,” for using his constitutional right to speak up and contest proceedings,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of the attorneys representing Abrego, on Monday.
Sandoval-Moshenberg said he and other attorneys representing Abrego asked why their client was being detained and an officer couldn’t give an answer. The ICE officers also couldn’t provide details on where Abrego was going following his detainment, according to Sandoval-Moshenberg.
Abrego had previously spoken at a press conference prior to his ICE appointment alongside his family, legal team and other supporters.
“My name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and I want you to remember this, remember that I am free and I was able to be reunited with my family,” he said in Spanish, which was repeated in English by a translator. “This was a miracle. Thank you to God and thank you to the community,” Abrego added. “I want to thank each and every one of you who marched, lift your voices, never stop praying, and continue to fight in my name.”
Abrego was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March in relation to a violation of a 2019 court order and was hit with human smuggling charges out of Tennessee, which he pleaded not guilty to, upon returning to the United States in June. President Trump’s administration has accused Abrego of being a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, which his attorneys have denied, claiming he illegally immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 16 to join his brother in Maryland in order to escape gang violence in El Salvador.
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