Erez Reuveni, acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation, has been placed on administrative leave after admitting to an error while defending the government against a lawsuit filed by a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. According to ABC News, the Justice Department informed the attorney that he was placed on leave for a “failure to zealously advocate” for the government.
“At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, per ABC News. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.”
The deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation is also placed on paid administrative leave. Additionally, Reuveni’s supervisor, August Flentje, is placed on leave for “failure to supervise a subordinate.”
Why did the Justice Department suspend Erez Reuveni?
According to the Los Angeles Times, Reuveni was placed on leave after he admitted to the court that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported by mistake. Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Attorney General Pam Bondi compared Reuveni’s actions to “a defense attorney walking in, conceding something in a criminal matter.”
“That would never happen in this country,” Bondi told Fox News, per the Los Angeles Times. “So he’s on administrative leave now, and we’ll see what happens.”
Why did the U.S. deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
Abrego Garcia was arrested in Maryland in March and deported to El Salvador despite having a permit from the Department of Homeland Security to work in the U.S. The 29-year-old Salvadoran has been working as a sheet metal apprentice since a U.S. judge ruled in 2019 that he is protected from deportation because he could face persecution by gangs in his home country.
The White House, however, labeled Garcia as an MS-13 gang member. Attorneys for Garcia argued that the government doesn’t have any evidence to prove their claims.
A federal judge has now asked the Trump Administration twice to return Garcia. While the government says Garcia can’t be returned because he is not in U.S. custody, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis disagrees.
“As defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador — let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere,” Xinis wrote, per the LA Times. “Having confessed grievous error, the defendants now argue that this Court lacks the power to hear this case, and they lack the power to order Abrego Garcia’s return.”
