U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the federal government not to remove Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from the continental United States while he fights a potential deportation to Uganda.

According to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, government officials attempted to coerce him into pleading guilty to criminal charges by threatening deportation to Uganda.

Abrego Garcia, a Maryland construction worker who was previously deported to El Salvador and later returned to the U.S. to face smuggling charges, was released from a Tennessee prison on Friday under a judge’s order. That order set the terms of his release pending a trial currently scheduled for January 2026.

RELATED STORY | Judge blocks Trump administration's plan to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda

On Monday, during a check-in

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