The ongoing saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged MS-13 member and human trafficker from El Salvador, has once again highlighted the battle lines between federal immigration enforcement and activist judges determined to slow or block deportations.
After being released from jail in Tennessee on August 22, Abrego Garcia quickly resurfaced in Maryland, only to be picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on August 28. For a moment, it seemed the Trump administration had finally gained the upper hand, with indications that Uganda would be his next destination. But as has become a familiar story in recent years, a judge appointed by former President Barack Obama stepped in to halt the process.
At a Monday hearing, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered that Abrego remain detained in the U.S., temporarily blocking deportation to Uganda. According to her reasoning, there were “several grounds” to consider providing relief, including Uganda’s lack of agreement to extend protections such as refugee status, freedom of movement, and a guarantee against re-deportation to El Salvador. Her intervention underscores the larger pattern of judicial activism where deportations ordered by immigration officials are delayed, often for years, through endless claims and appeals.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys predictably played the same card used by countless others in similar cases, citing “fear of persecution and torture” to stop his removal. This was the same reasoning that had prevented his return to El Salvador, his home country. Now, apparently, the same excuse was extended to Uganda.
But what came next revealed the absurdity of the situation. According to reporting from Fox News’ Bill Melugin, ICE notified Abrego Garcia that his fears had stretched to cover no fewer than 22 countries. In an email obtained and shared on X by @BillMelugin_, the agency bluntly stated: “The claim of fear is hard to take seriously, especially given that you have claimed (through your attorneys) that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 countries.”
The list of countries he supposedly cannot set foot in spans nearly the entire Western Hemisphere, from Mexico and Guatemala to Argentina and Chile, as well as Caribbean nations such as Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. With such sweeping claims, it becomes clear that the strategy is less about legitimate fears and more about exploiting loopholes in U.S. immigration law to forestall removal indefinitely.
In response, ICE moved decisively. “Nonetheless, we hereby notify you that your new country of removal is Eswatini, Africa,” the agency wrote. For those unfamiliar, Eswatini—formerly known as Swaziland—is a small southern African kingdom bordered by South Africa and Mozambique. It gained independence from Britain in 1968, and in 2018, King Mswati III officially restored the nation’s name to Eswatini to reflect the identity most used by its people.
The broader takeaway here is not just about one deportation case. It is about the dangerous precedent being set when activist judges use their bench to interfere with the enforcement of immigration law. For decades, immigration policy has swung back and forth depending on which party is in power, but the underlying principle has always been that sovereign nations have the right—and the duty—to decide who may remain within their borders. When that power is undercut by endless appeals and blanket claims of fear, the burden falls squarely on American taxpayers, communities, and law enforcement who are forced to deal with the consequences.
At its core, this case reflects the breakdown of a system overwhelmed by legal maneuvering and judicial second-guessing. The Trump administration’s attempt to finally move forward—by identifying a new destination outside the long list of countries Abrego Garcia claims to fear—shows the kind of common-sense determination Americans expect. But unless the courts step aside and allow immigration authorities to do their job, this cycle of delay and dysfunction will only continue, leaving dangerous individuals in the country far longer than the law ever intended.
