The Maryland immigration attorneys representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia last Thursday asked for discovery against the Trump administration in its ongoing lawsuit over the attempts by federal authorities to deport the alleged human smuggler ahead of the October 6 hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis.
During that hearing, attorneys wrote that they will seek to determine whether the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda and Eswatini, the landlocked African country where it most recently said it would remove him federal laws which state that illegal immigrants should be deported to a nation willing to accept them.
They will also seek to learn, “What assurances and protections, if any, Uganda and Eswatini have offered the petitioner akin to what Costa Rica has done in terms of assuring freedom of movement, residency, papers, or refugee status.”
A letter from Costa Rica’s government to the U.S. Embassy in that nation previously stated that Abrego Garcia would be granted refugee or residence status in the tropical nation. It was obtained by the U.S. State Department as part negotiations for a possible plea deal in Abrego Garcia’s federal human smuggling case in Tennessee.
Despite the letter, federal officials have said that Abrego Garcia has now expressed fear of persecution or torture in Costa Rica.
Emails publicly entered into the court record in that case last week appear to reveal that Abrego Garcia was willing to consider a plea deal that would have seen him plead guilty to smuggling illegal immigrants in exchange for prosecutors agreeing to dismiss the conspiracy charge against him, and ensuring he will be deported to a Spanish-speaking nation in North America.
Under the versions of the plea agreement made public by prosecutors, Abrego Garcia would have served between 8-14 months, then been deported to Costa Rica.
A final plea deal was offered by the prosecutors in August, though on the day Abrego Garcia was required to accept it, he instead surrendered to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Maryland. He remains in federal custody as he sues the Trump administration to block his deportation.
The criminal case against Abrego Garcia stems from his November 2022 traffic stop by Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), which was first reported by The Tennessee Star in April. A spokesman for THP later told The Star that Abrego Garcia was released at the instruction of the “Biden-era FBI,” and a federal document showed troopers suspected human trafficking.
Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to the charges after being returned to Tennessee in June. His case was scheduled to reach trial in January 2026.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Kilmar Abrego Garcia” by El Salvador / President Nayib Bukele.
