The Second Deportation - The Trump Administration and the Case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

The Trump administration keeps tightening the screws. On September 4, the Department of Homeland Security submitted a new filing before the immigration court in Baltimore: Should Kilmar Abrego Garcia succeed with his latest attempt to reopen an asylum case, it will do everything possible to deport him to El Salvador. To the very place where, after an administrative error in March, he was already illegally deported once - despite a court ruling that had explicitly prohibited exactly that. It is a process that seems unusual even for this administration: First Abrego was arrested under questionable circumstances after his return to the United States in June, then he was portrayed as an alleged MS-13 gangster and human trafficker, as a serial offender who "will no longer be allowed to terrorize American citizens," as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared. And when he refused to sign a deal, the next escalation followed: an attempt to deport him to a country with which he has no connection whatsoever - Uganda.

Now comes the threat to overturn the original court ruling and send him back to El Salvador after all, where he is demonstrably in fear for his life. The cynicism of the reasoning is remarkable: The government argues that the old protection ruling is "no longer valid" if a new asylum case is opened - a legal sleight of hand that turns the principle of non-refoulement, the international law prohibition on returning people to danger, into absurdity. Abrego, who has been sitting in a deportation detention center in Virginia since August 25, is fighting back on two tracks: before the immigration court with his asylum application and before the federal court, which has so far granted him protection from the planned deportation to Uganda. On October 6, Judge Paula Xinis intends to hold a hearing on whether deportation to Uganda would be legally permissible at all.

The Trump administration remains unimpressed. It wants to make an example - whatever the cost. Anyone who sues it is to feel what it means to resist the new deportation state. The criminal allegations against Abrego - an alleged conspiracy to smuggle migrants into the country between 2016 and 2025 - seem like an attempt at retroactive justification, a means of pressure to force him into a guilty plea. "The campaign of retribution continues because Mr. Abrego refuses to sign a confession," says his lawyer Sean Hecker. The message is clear: Anyone who resists the machine will be crushed. What is happening here is more than just an isolated case. It is a test run to see whether the government can use legal tricks to overturn protection rulings that are supposed to be the last lifeline for people who would otherwise be sent into violence and death. If this dam breaks, it will no longer be a special case - then it will be precedent. That is why everything must be done day and night to prevent it from coming to that.