Kilmar Abrego Garcia asylum bid rejected pending appeal

A US immigration judge in Baltimore has turned down an attempt by Kilmar Abrego Garcia to reopen his asylum case, marking the latest development in a years-long legal battle that has drawn national attention.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, was first denied asylum in 2019 after immigration officials said he had missed the one-year filing deadline. While the judge at the time ruled he could not be sent back to El Salvador due to gang threats against his family, he was later deported during the Trump administration after conditions in El Salvador changed.

In March 2025, he was sent to El Salvador and held in the notorious CECOT prison, before being returned to the US three months later under a Supreme Court ruling. Federal officials then charged him with human smuggling, and he now also faces criminal charges in Tennessee tied to a 2022 traffic stop in which other illegal immigrants were found in his car.

The judge ruled against reopening his asylum claim, though Abrego Garcia has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. His attorneys argue that he should not be deported to El Salvador, where he says he suffered abuse and torture while in custody. They also oppose government efforts to send him to Uganda or Eswatini, which US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has listed as possible third-country options.

If Abrego Garcia eventually wins asylum, it could give him a path to permanent residency and citizenship, says the Associated Press. But a loss could mean removal of his current protections and renewed risk of deportation to El Salvador.

A Department of Homeland Security post on X after Wednesday’s ruling stated: “His lawyers tried to fight his removal from the U.S. but one thing is certain, this Salvadoran man is not going to be able to remain in our country.” The 2019 removal order remains in place.