Trump administration tells Abrego Garcia he now faces deportation to African country of Eswatini

Published

1 day ago

September 5, 2025

The Trump administration told Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Friday it is now seeking to deport him to the tiny African kingdom of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement email obtained by CBS News.

The email from a top ICE official noted that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have warned he fears being persecuted or tortured in Uganda, where federal authorities threatened to deport him last month after he was detained once again by immigration officials following his release from criminal custody.

The ICE official said Abrego Garcia, through his attorneys, has also claimed fear of being harmed if deported to more than 20 countries, most of them in Latin America.

In the email, the official called the alleged claims “hard to take seriously,” but added: “Nonetheless, we hereby notify you that your new country of removal is Eswatini, Africa.”

CBS News reached out to representatives and an attorney for Abrego Garcia, asking for comment on the Trump administration’s threat to send their client to Eswatini.

Eswatini is at least the fourth possible destination that the Trump administration has floated for Abrego Garcia, a native of El Salvador who was mistakenly deported in March, held in a notorious Salvadoran prison and returned to the U.S. in June — only to face federal smuggling charges.

Africa’s sole remaining absolute monarchy, Eswatini is one of several nations that has agreed to the Trump administration’s requests to accept deportees who are not their citizens from the U.S. Earlier this year, the U.S. sent a small group of deportees from Asia and Latin America who had been convicted of violent crimes to Eswatini. Attorneys say the men are being held incommunicado in a prison there.

Abrego Garcia was released from pre-trial jail last month, but ICE almost immediately detained him during a check-in appointment with the agency in Baltimore and began processing him for deportation to Uganda. His attorneys have fought that move, and alleged the government offered to deport him to Costa Rica instead if he agreed to a plea deal in his smuggling case.

And on Thursday, federal authorities argued they could have a legal route to deport him to El Salvador a second time. A 2019 immigration court ruling barred the government from sending him to the Central American country, citing a risk of persecution by gangs. But in a filing obtained by CBS News, the government argued those legal protections would be voided if Abrego Garcia’s request to reopen his immigration court case is granted.

Despite that legal protection issued in 2019, Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March, which government lawyers acknowledged was an “administrative error.”

A senior Trump administration official said, “Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers are playing with fire. If their attempts to reopen his immigration case are successful, his own lawyers will have opened the door for his return to El Salvador.”

Abrego Garcia remains in ICE custody in Virginia while his lawyers fight his criminal charges and deportation proceedings. His possible deportation to Uganda was paused by a federal judge in Maryland until at least next month.

Trump administration fights Abrego Garcia’s asylum case

Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia is seeking asylum in the U.S., a legal status granted to people who have a well-founded fear of persecution in another country.

In an immigration court filing Thursday, government lawyers asked a judge not to grant Abrego Garcia’s request to reopen his immigration case so he can seek asylum or some other legal protection, like a green card based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen.

The administration argued that Abrego Garcia is not eligible for asylum and other benefits, citing his alleged affiliation with the gang MS-13, his smuggling charges and a domestic violence complaint filed by his wife. The government alleges Abrego Garcia is a member of a foreign terrorist group, since MS-13 has been classified as such by the State Department.

Abrego Garcia has strongly denied any affiliation with MS-13 and has pleaded not guilty to his smuggling charges, which his attorneys have called “vindictive and selective.” Abrego Garcia’s wife filed a protective order alleging domestic violence in 2021, but she later said she decided not to follow through with the case. Abrego Garcia was not criminally charged in the matter.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told CBS News that if his client “is allowed a fair trial in immigration court, there’s no way he’s not going to prevail on his claim for asylum.”

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia was tortured in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison earlier this year,” he said. “The only reason he was denied asylum in 2019 was because he did not file within one year of entering the United States, a problem which the government has now solved.”

Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.

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Red Sea cables are cut, disrupting internet in Asia and the Mideast

Published

1 hour ago

September 7, 2025

Jon Gambrell

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea disrupted internet access in parts of Asia and the Middle East, experts said Sunday, though it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the incident.

There has been concern about the cables being targeted in a Red Sea campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which the rebels describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the Houthis have denied attacking the lines in the past.

Undersea cables are one of the backbones of the internet, along with satellite connections and land-based cables. Typically, internet service providers have multiple access points and reroute traffic if one fails, though it can slow down access for users.

Microsoft announced via a status website that the Mideast “may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea.” The Redmond, Washington-based firm did not immediately elaborate, though it said that internet traffic not moving through the Middle East “is not impacted.”

NetBlocks, which monitors internet access, said “a series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries,” which it said included India and Pakistan. It blamed “failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”

The South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 cable is run by Tata Communications, part of the Indian conglomerate. The India-Middle East-Western Europe cable is run by another consortium overseen by Alcatel-Lucent. Neither firm did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

Pakistan Telecommunications Co. Ltd., a telecommunication giant in that country, noted that the cuts had taken place in a statement on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge the disruption and authorities there did not respond to a request for comment.

In the United Arab Emirates, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, internet users on the country’s state-owned Du and Etisalat networks complained of slower internet speeds. The government did not immediately acknowledge the disruption.

Subsea cables can be cut by anchors dropped from ships, but can also be targeted in attacks. It can take weeks for repairs to be made as a ship and crew must locate themselves over the damaged cable.

The lines’ cut comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels remain locked in a series of attacks targeting Israel over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Israel has responded with airstrikes, including one that killed top leaders within the rebel movement.

In early 2024, Yemen’s internationally recognized government in exile alleged that the Houthis planned to attack undersea cables in the Red Sea. Several were cut, but the Houthis denied being responsible. On Sunday morning, the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged that the cuts had taken place, citing NetBlocks.

From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In their campaign so far, the Houthis have sunk four vessels and killed at least eight mariners.

The Iranian-backed Houthis stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war. They later became the target of an intense weekslong campaign of airstrikes ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump before he declared a ceasefire had been reached with the rebels. The Houthis sank two vessels in July, killing at least four on board, with others believed to be held by the rebels.

The Houthis’ new attacks come as a new possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war remains in the balance. Meanwhile, the future of talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s battered nuclear program is in question after Israel launched a 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in which the Americans bombed three Iranian atomic sites.

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Powerball lottery players in Missouri and Texas to split estimated $1.8 billion jackpot

Published

2 hours ago

September 7, 2025

The Editors

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Powerball players in Missouri and Texas won the estimated $1.8 billion jackpot on Saturday, overcoming astronomical odds to end the lottery game’s three-month drought without a big winner.

The winning numbers were 11, 23, 44, 61, and 62, with the Powerball number being 17.

The prize, which was the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot in history, followed 41 consecutive drawings in which no one matched all six numbers. The last drawing with a jackpot winner happened May 31.

Powerball’s terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes growing as they roll over when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are far better for the game’s many smaller prizes. There are three drawings each week.

The estimated $1.8 billion jackpot would go to a winner who opts to receive 30 payments over 29 years through an annuity. Winners almost always choose the game’s cash option, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be an estimated $826.4 million.

Powerball tickets cost $2, and the game is offered in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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$1.8 billion Powerball drawing turns up winners in Texas and Missouri

Published

2 hours ago

September 7, 2025

Dennis Romero

A nearly $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot finally found winners during Saturday night’s draw, the Multi-State Lottery Association said.

The jackpot winners hailed from Texas and Missouri, it said, resulting in a two-way split of a $1.787 billion jackpot, the association said in a statement late Saturday.

The winning numbers were 11, 23, 44, 61, 62, and Powerball 17, it said.

Winners will be able to chose one of two ways to claim their half of the jackpot: an annuitized prize of $893.5 million or a lump-sum payment of $410.3 million. The annuitized prize would come in 30 payments over a 29-year span.

Additional details, including the identities of the winners and where the tickets were sold, have not been released.

Winning tickets with a face value of $2 million each, which matched five numbers as well as the Powerball number, were purchased in Texas and Kansas, the association said.

The jackpot grew as a result of no winners since May 31. Saturday’s drawing was for the second-largest jackpot in Powerball history, lottery officials said.

The only jackpot worth more was the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won in California on Nov. 7, 2022, they said.

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