Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose arrest and fight to stay in the U.S. has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump ’s immigration crackdown, surrendered Monday morning to U.S. immigration authorities in Baltimore. He faces possible efforts by the Trump administration to deport him to Uganda.
The 30-year-old Salvadoran national was wrongfully deported in March to a notorious prison in his native El Salvador. He was returned to the U.S. in June, but only to face human smuggling charges that his lawyers call preposterous and vindictive.
The Trump administration has said it is trying to deport Abrego Garcia months before his trial is scheduled in Tennessee, alleging that the 30-year-old married father is a danger to the community and an MS-13 gang member. He denies the gang allegation, pleaded not guilty to smuggling charges and has asked a judge to dismiss the case on ground of vindictive prosecution. Immigration officials have said they plan to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he declined an offer to be removed to Costa Rica in exchange for pleading guilty to the smuggling charges.
Here's the latest:
Trump envoy says officials working ‘very, very hard’ on ending the Russia-Ukraine war
Special envoy Keith Kellogg was speaking in Kyiv on Monday about efforts to end the three-year war between Russia and Ukraine as a lack of progress fuels doubts about whether a peace settlement could be on the horizon.
Officials are “hoping to get to a position where, in the near term, we have, with a lack of a better term, security guarantees” that address Ukraine’s fears of another invasion by Russia in the future, Kellogg said.
“That’s a work in progress,” Kellogg said of the potential security guarantees after attending Ukraine’s annual National Prayer Breakfast along with politicians, business leaders and diplomats.
A week ago, President Trump said he’d set in motion arrangements for direct peace talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But Russian officials have signaled that such a summit won’t happen any time soon.
▶ Read more about the war between Russia and Ukraine
Trump targets cashless bail
The president plans to sign an executive order threatening to revoke federal funding from local and state governments that allow cashless bail, according to a White House official. The official requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter before a public announcement later in the morning.
Trump has been escalating his focus on public safety, particularly in Democratic cities such as Washington, where he’s deployed National Guard troops and federal agents over the objections of local officials.
— Chris Megerian
Here’s what’s on Trump’s schedule today
The president is scheduled to sign executive orders at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. One involves ending cashless bail, according to the White House Assistant Press Secretary. Another is designed to crack down on those who burn the American flag, which is an act protected by the First Amendment.
At noon, he’s scheduled to greet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. The two will then participate in a bilateral meeting and a lunch, where they’re expected to discuss trade and defense issues.
Trump to issue order on flag burning
President Trump will sign an executive order later Monday that’s meant to crack down on those who burn the American flag, which is protected by the First Amendment.
The order calls on Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute those who break laws “in ways that involve desecrating the flag,” according to a White House official.
Under the order, Bondi would also pursue litigation with the intent to potentially change what is allowed on flag burning under the First Amendment. The administration would also be allowed in some cases to deny or revoke visas to foreigners who participate in the act.
Trump has long demanded punishment for those who burn a U.S. flag, although the Supreme Court has ruled that doing so is a form of constitutionally protected free speech.
A court order pauses efforts to deport Abrego Garcia
The court order signed by Chief Judge George Russell III automatically pauses any effort by the Trump administration to immediately deport Abrego Garcia.
Any immigrant seeking review of their detention in a Maryland federal court is covered by the order, which blocks their removal from the U.S. until 4 p.m. on the second business day after their habeas corpus petition is filed. In June, the administration sued all of Maryland’s 15 federal judges to challenge the standard order.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says Abrego Garcia being processed for deportation
Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, says a lawsuit had been filed in federal district court in Maryland shortly after his detention asking for an order that he not be deported.
“I expect there’s going to be a status conference very promptly, and we’re going to ask for an interim order that he not be deported, pending his due process rights to contest deportation to any particular country,” he said.
Some National Guard units in Washington now carrying firearms in escalation of Trump deployment
This latest development makes good on a directive issued late last week by Trump’s defense secretary.
A Defense Department official who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly said some units on certain missions would be armed — some with handguns and others with rifles. The spokesperson said that all units with firearms have been trained and are operating under strict rules for use of force.
An Associated Press photographer on Sunday saw members of the South Carolina National Guard outside Union Station with holstered handguns.
A statement from the joint task force that has taken over policing in the nation’s capital said units began carrying their service weapons on Sunday and that the military’s rules say force should be used “only as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm.” It said the force is committed to protecting “the safety and wellbeing” of Washington’s residents.
▶ Read more about the federal intervention in D.C.
— Jonathan J. Cooper, Leah Askarinam and Konstantin Toropin
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys filed a new federal lawsuit shortly after he surrendered
But the court documents weren’t publicly available. They filed it in the federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, where U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has been presiding over a string of hearings for the original case.
Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s story begins in his native El Salvador, but it’s become increasingly unclear where it will end.
A local gang, Barrio 18, began extorting his family for “rent money.” When he was 12, the gang threatened to take Abrego Garcia away until his father paid “all of the money that they wanted.”
Abrego Garcia eventually fled to the U.S. illegally around 2011, the year he turned 16, according to documents in his immigration case. He found work in construction.
In March 2019, Abrego Garcia went to a Home Depot seeking work as a laborer when he and three other men were detained by local police, court records say. They were suspected of being in MS-13 based on tattoos and clothing, according to the records.
▶ Read more about Abrego Garcia’s background
The background on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case
Abrego Garcia became a flash point in Trump’s immigration agenda after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, despite a judge’s earlier determination that he faced a “well-founded fear” of violence there. Facing a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to the United States in June, only to detain him on human smuggling charges.
He pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss the case, claiming that it is an attempt to punish him for challenging his deportation to El Salvador. The latest filing came as a supplement to that motion to dismiss, stating that the threat to deport him to Uganda is more proof that the prosecution is vindictive.
The smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. There were nine passengers in the car, and officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. Abrego Garcia was allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years. Although he was deemed eligible for pretrial release last month, he remained in jail at the request of his attorneys, who feared the Republican administration could try to immediately deport him again if he were freed.
On Friday, Abrego Garcia returned to his family in Maryland. Video released by advocates of the reunion showed a room decorated with streamers, flowers and signs. He embraced loved ones and thanked them “for everything.”
▶ Read more about Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.