Federal authorities warned alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia they plan to deport him to Uganda after he refused an offer to plead guilty to human smuggling charges and serve his sentence in Costa Rica, his attorneys said in a Saturday court filing.

The Salvadoran migrant, 30, was offered the deal Thursday night but rejected it, opting instead to walk free on Friday from a federal lock up in Tennessee and return home to his family in Maryland until his trial began, according to the seven-page filing in Federal District Court in Nashville.

Abrego Garcia was deported in March and sent to El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT. 

Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be sent to Uganda after declining an offer to be sent to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges. AP

The Trump administration arranged for his return in June, and he was held in Putnam County Jail until Friday when a judge granted his release.

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security quickly threatened to boot him to Uganda, his lawyers argued.

Abrego Garcia has been ordered to report to ICE’s Baltimore office Monday morning.

“The government immediately responded to Mr. Abrego’s release with outrage,” the filing read.

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“There can be only one interpretation of these events. 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.”

Court documents showed federal prosecutors pushed Abrego Garcia to stay behind bars, offering that if he pleaded guilty, he would be accepted into the Central American country — a Spanish-speaking nation like his native El Salvador — as a legal immigrant and would not face detention.

A vehicle with Kilmar Abrego Garcia leaves the Putnam County Jail on Friday. AP

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday blasted his release as “a new low.”

“By ordering this monster loose on America’s streets, the judge has shown a complete disregard for the safety of the American people,” she wrote on X.

Stay up to date on alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia

“We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country.”

Abrego Garcia’s smuggling allegations stem from a 2022 traffic stop where he was pulled over on a Tennessee highway with eight passengers in the car, but no luggage. Police in Tennessee had suspected human smuggling, but he was not charged at the time.

Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to smuggling charges, stemming from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding. AP

He was also previously accused of physically abusing his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a US citizen who has been fiercely advocating on his behalf.

The administration eventually admitted Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador under President Trump’s invocation of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, due to an “administrative error” — but maintained he was “confirmed to be a ranking member of the MS-13 gang by a proven and reliable source.”

Abrego Garcia has denied any affiliation with the violent gang. 

Last month, a federal judge ordered immigration agents to wait 72 hours after Abrego Garcia’s expected release from custody in Nashville before nabbing and deporting him to a third country, such as Mexico or South Sudan, where he is not originally from. 

The judge also ordered that Abrego Garcia be returned to the supervision of an ICE field office in Baltimore upon his release, the same office that had been keeping tabs on him prior to his arrest in mid-March. 

He first entered the country illegally in 2011 and was handed an order shielding him from deportation in 2019 over potential threats from MS-13’s rivals in El Salvador.

With Post wires.