​​​​​​​HOUSTON, United States

Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia announced Wednesday that he is seeking asylum in the US, according to media reports.

The move comes in the wake of Abrego Garcia, 30, being detained Monday by immigration officials in the state of Maryland, after being released from a jail in Tennessee on Friday, where he is scheduled for a January 2027 trial in an alleged human smuggling case.

The Trump administration said it intends to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda, claiming he is part of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang, an allegation that he denies.

Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to his home country of El Salvador in March during a nationwide immigration crackdown conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, which targeted alleged MS-13 and Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members.

Under a 2019 court order in a separate case, Abrego Garcia was prohibited from being deported to El Salvador due to threats of violence against him by gang members. The order, however, allowed deportation to a different country, which places him in his current situation to be deported to Uganda.

Abrego Garcia's lawyers are fighting those deportation efforts, arguing he faces persecution and torture in Uganda, which has documented human rights violations.

Abrego Garcia filed a Notice of Fear of Removal to Uganda to the court in which he stated his concerns.

"I, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia … hereby state that I fear persecution in UGANDA on account of my race, nationality, political opinion, and membership in a particular social group," he said. "I also fear torture by or at the acquiescence of a public official in that country ... (and) that country will (re-deport me) to EL SALVADOR, where I also fear persecution on account of the above-mentioned protected grounds and torture by or at the acquiescence of a public official, and where I have been tortured in the past."

US District Judge Paula Xinis ruled that the US cannot deport Abrego Garcia before she decides the underlying case. She also ruled that he must remain within a 200-mile (320-kilometer) radius of the Maryland court while he is in ICE custody.

Xinis scheduled an Oct. 6 hearing for the lawsuit that Abrego Garcia's attorneys filed Monday to challenge his deportation.

She is overseeing Abrego Garcia's case to ensure he can exercise his constitutionally protected rights during a process that his lawyers said should include immigration court proceedings and appeals. Xinis will not rule on whether Abrego Garcia receives asylum or is deported.

Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said the government will comply with the order, even though he disagrees with the court's decision not to remove Abrego Garcia while the lawsuit is pending.

Abrego Garcia's lawyers said if he must be deported from the US, he has requested to be sent to Costa Rica.