The United States government is trying to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, a country he has no ties to, in direct violation of the very agreement it made with that country. Uganda has stated clearly that it will not accept deportees with criminal records. So if Abrego Garcia is being deported there, the U.S. is admitting one simple fact: he is not a criminal.
That alone should be headline news. The act of choosing Uganda as the destination makes it clear, even if they will not say it out loud, that Abrego Garcia is not considered a criminal by the U.S. government. If he were, Uganda would not accept him. If the U.S. proceeds, it is not just deporting a man, it is declaring by its own actions that the charges it brought against him are either weak, politically motivated, or irrelevant.
And yet, he is being treated like one. Shackled. Detained. Dragged through immigration court while Trump-aligned officials use the threat of Uganda as leverage to force him into a guilty plea. It is not justice, it is coercion.
Let us be clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia has not been convicted of any crime. He is not from Uganda. He has no connection to Uganda. He is a Salvadoran national. The only reason Uganda is even on the table is because of a secretive and deeply controversial deal brokered by the U.S. government under the Trump administration, one that Uganda's own officials say excludes criminals and unaccompanied minors.
That is what makes this case so damning. If the deportation proceeds, it confirms the lie. Not just a lie about Abrego Garcia, but about the entire justification for the U.S.–Uganda agreement. Trump's team has insisted it would only be used to deport migrants who met Uganda's terms. But here we have a man facing criminal charges, not convicted, being used as political bait.
It is a quiet admission of guilt by the U.S. government, not Garcia's guilt, but their own. They know they do not have a case strong enough to win in court, so they are trying to win through fear. This is not law. It is brute force, wrapped in legal paperwork.
Worse, it sets a precedent. If the U.S. can pressure someone into a plea deal by threatening to send them to a country they have no link to, a country that should not even be involved, then it means the entire immigration system is open to manipulation. Justice does not matter. Paperwork does. The threat of vanishing is stronger than the burden of proof.
This is a strategy Trump and his allies want to use again and again. Let them claim victory by removal, not by conviction. Let them fabricate compliance by making the alternative so terrifying, so unjust, that pleading guilty feels like the only choice.
But here is the truth: if Kilmar Abrego Garcia is deported to Uganda, it will prove everything they have denied. That the deal was a lie. That the system is rigged. That they are discarding justice in favor of optics. And that guilt, in Trump's America, is optional, as long as you are expendable.