A timeline of key events in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s fight with the Trump administration
May 22, 2026, 2:05 PM | Updated: 2:38 pm
Kilmar Abrego Garcia entered the news in March 2025 after he was deported to El Salvador despite a court ruling that should have prevented it. His complicated legal fight since then has galvanized both sides of the debate over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
There is a civil case in Maryland where he has been challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s attempts to deport him to a series of African countries. A criminal case in Tennessee, where the government accused him of human smuggling, has just been dismissed after a judge found evidence of “vindictive prosecution” by the Justice Department.
Here is a timeline of key events:
Abrego Garcia flees El Salvador for the U.S. as a teenager.
Abrego Garcia is arrested outside a Maryland hardware store. Police accuse him of being a gang member and turn him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A Maryland immigration judge rules that Abrego Garcia cannot be deported to El Salvador, where a gang has threatened his family. He is given a work permit and placed under federal supervision.
Abrego Garcia is detained by ICE in Baltimore while driving home with his 5-year-old son.
Abrego Garcia is mistakenly deported to El Salvador and held in a notoriously brutal prison.
The U.S. Supreme Court says the Trump administration must work to bring Abrego Garcia back.
Abrego Garcia is returned to the U.S. and charged with human smuggling, based on a Tennessee traffic stop from 2022.
ICE announces plans to remove him to a series of African countries, but is blocked by an injunction from a Maryland federal judge.
Abrego Garcia leaves the Tennessee jail, where he has been since June, to return to his family in Maryland and await trial. Within minutes of his release, ICE sends notice that they intend to deport him to Uganda.
Abrego Garcia reports to an immigration office in Baltimore and is taken into custody.
A federal judge in Maryland orders ICE to immediately release Abrego Garcia.
A Maryland federal judge rules ICE cannot re-detain Abrego Garcia.
A federal judge in Tennessee dismisses the human smuggling case against Abrego Garcia after finding evidence the government engaged in “ vindictive prosecution.”
