Illegal immigrant and accused MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia entered a long, drawn-out, and politicized legal battle earlier this year that captured headlines for weeks on end.

According to the New York Post, in his last bid to reopen a case after it was finally determined that his removal from the United States was legal, a federal immigration judge this week just crushed his dreams on that front, ordering that the final ruling is, well, final.

This week, the judge rejected a motion filed by his attorneys to reopen the case. The motion was filed by his attorneys back in August.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials notified his attorney that Garcia may be removed to an African country, prompting his lawyers to file the motion based on the fear of an “imminent removal to Uganda."

What's going on?

The judge overseeing the case, Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge Philip Taylor, made it clear in his ruling that DHS used the word "may," and that it wasn't set in stone that Garcia would be sent to Uganda or another African country, only that it was a possibility.

“[It] indicates to the Court that in sending this notification to Respondent’s counsel, the Department sought to convey that it reserved the right to remove him to Uganda, not necessarily that it intended to do so, that it had decided to do so, or that it would do so imminently," the judge wrote.

The NY Post noted:

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had argued in their motion that their client was eligible to apply for asylum in the US because he had been deported to El Salvador and then brought back earlier this year to face federal human trafficking charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Judge Taylor disagreed with that notion, arguing that his chance to apply for asylum had long passed, well over the 90-day mark.

His attorneys, obviously in an attempt to get anything to stick to help their client, argued that his life would be in danger if sent back to El Salvador, given his gang affiliation.

Judge Taylor also didn't buy that argument, calling it "insufficient."

No-nonsense

The immigration judge explained why he didn't believe that particular argument.

"Respondent also does not indicate that the guards made any statements or otherwise indicated that they believed him or the other deportees to be gang members, so they do not appear to have imputed MS-13 gang membership to him," Judge Taylor said.

He added, "Notably, while prison officials interrogated Respondent about his alleged gang membership and took pictures of his tattoos, they did not mistreat him during the interrogation."

Only time will tell where DHS will ultimately ship him off to.