Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported but returned to the U.S., on Monday filed a legal action challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to deport him again — this time to Uganda, a third country to which he has no known ties.

Abrego Garcia filed a habeas petition in federal court in Maryland, seeking to block his immediate deportation after he was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Monday morning when he reported for a check-in at ICE’s Baltimore field office.

In the sealed petition, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argue that while the government did provide notice to his counsel on Friday that it intends to deport him to Uganda, it did not notify Abrego Garcia himself, as a judge previously ordered.

“And now, the Government has, without forewarning, taken Petitioner into ICE detention based on the notice of removal to Uganda, without providing him an opportunity to be heard on his expressed fears of persecution and torture in that country,” reads the petition, which was obtained by Nexstar affiliate DC News Now.

Abrego Garcia’s detention and the bid to deport him comes just three days after he was freed from custody in a criminal case filed against him in federal court in Tennessee. 

In a statement to The Hill, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer called the government’s decision to detain him again “both unnecessary and cruel.” 

“After months of incarceration, he deserves the opportunity to remain safely at home with his family while his claims are fairly considered,” said lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Instead, ICE is once again rushing to deport him, potentially to countries where his safety cannot be assured.  

“For this reason, our team has filed a new lawsuit demanding that the government refrain from deporting him anywhere unless and until a court has heard his claim for protection,” he added. “Justice requires no less.” 

The judge assigned to the lawsuit is U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an appointee of former President Obama who has overseen Abrego Garcia’s other civil lawsuit in Maryland federal court.  

Last month, she ordered the Trump administration to provide both Abrego Garcia and his lawyers with 72-hours’ notice before deporting him to a third country. The Trump administration notified Abrego Garcia’s lawyers on Friday, starting the clock.  

However, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said in court filings over the weekend that the government only raised its intention to send him to Uganda after Abrego Garcia rejected a plea deal that would have allowed him to become a lawful citizen of Costa Rica after serving any prison time for pleading guilty to the two human smuggling charges he faces.  

They claimed in a motion to dismiss the case for selective and vindictive prosecution that the government attempted to coerce him into taking a guilty plea by putting the two options side by side. 

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers asked Xinis to block the Trump administration from removing him to Uganda without first letting him make arguments about why he reasonably fears being sent there and without first attempting to remove him to Costa Rica.  

They also asked her to find that his detention violates due process and order his release, in addition to blocking the administration from detaining him more than 200 miles from the Greenbelt, Md., courthouse.

Abrego Garcia was first deported in March to El Salvador, a move that ran afoul of a 2019 court order preventing him from being sent there over fears his safety would be at risk. The Trump administration facilitated his return to the U.S. in June after initially resisting court orders to do so. He was then hit with the federal criminal charges in Tennessee.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Monday that ICE detained Abrego Garcia and is processing him for another deportation. The Department of Homeland Security said he will be processed for removal to Uganda.  

“President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator to terrorize American citizens any longer,” Noem said. 

Abrego Garcia has denied having ties to the gang MS-13. Courts have also found there is insufficient evidence to tie Abrego Garcia to the gang and have determined he is neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk.