<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Lawyers for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully expelled to El Salvador in March and then returned in June, accused the Trump administration on Saturday of trying to “coerce” him to plead guilty in his criminal case by threatening to re-deport him “halfway across the world” to Uganda.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.104621/gov.uscourts.tnmd.104621.113.0.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">a seven-page filing</a> in Federal District Court in Nashville, the lawyers said that on Thursday evening, one day before Mr. Abrego Garcia was set to be released from criminal custody, federal prosecutors offered him a deal. The prosecutors said that if he agreed to remain in jail until Monday and then pleaded guilty to charges of having taken part in a long-running conspiracy to smuggle undocumented immigrants across the United States, they would agree to deport him to Costa Rica after he served whatever sentence he was given in the case.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">As a further inducement to enter a guilty plea, according to the filing, the prosecutors provided the defense lawyers with <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.104622/gov.uscourts.tnmd.104622.113.1_1.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">a letter</a> confirming that Mr. Abrego Garcia could live freely in Costa Rica, which would “accept him as a refugee or grant him residency status.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The lawyers said they ultimately rejected the proposal to keep Mr. Abrego Garcia locked up through the weekend but promised to convey the government’s offer of a plea bargain to their client.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But after Mr. Abrego Garcia was freed from custody in Tennessee on Friday afternoon, they said, the Trump administration suddenly changed course. Working together, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security informed the lawyers that if Mr. Abrego Garcia did not accept the offer to plead guilty and be sent to Costa Rica by Monday morning, then Immigration and Customs Enforcement would start the process of expelling him to Uganda.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“There can be only one interpretation of these events,” the lawyers wrote. “The D.O.J., D.H.S., and ICE are using their collective powers to force Mr. Abrego to choose between a guilty plea followed by relative safety, or rendition to Uganda, where his safety and liberty would be under threat.”</p><div class="css-kbghgg"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171d1bw"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" data-tpl="i" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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