Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that a Justice Department lawyer has been placed on indefinite paid leave for not “zealously” defending the government’s position in a case involving a suspected gang member deported to El Salvador last month. Erez Reuveni, who represented the government at Friday’s hearing—where a judge ruled that Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be returned to the U.S. by Monday—has been placed on leave by Bondi’s office.
“At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States,” Bondi told the New York Times in a statement. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.” During the court proceedings, Reuveni told the judge that Garcia’s deportation was a “mistake” caused by an administrative error. The following day, the Trump Administration argued in an emergency appeal that U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis lacked the authority to compel Garcia’s return.
“Late Friday afternoon, a federal district judge ordered the United States to force El Salvador to send one of its citizens – a member of MS-13, no less – back to the United States by midnight on Monday. If there was ever a case for an emergency stay pending appeal, this would be it,” the government wrote in the emergency appeal, which was obtained by Fox News.
The government has argued that the issue is beyond their control, as Garcia has already been deported to El Salvador. “Nevertheless, the court’s injunction commands that Defendants accomplish, somehow, Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States in give or take one business day,” the appeal continues, calling it “indefensible.”
The filing went on to argue that Judge Xinis “lacked the power” to require the government “on the clock, to try to force a foreign country to take a discrete action,” Fox News added. “Abrego Garcia has been found to be a member of a designated Foreign 3 Terrorist Organization, MS-13. Given that status, he has no legal right or basis to be in the United States at all,” the DOJ added.
“The American people should know who this individual is. He’s not some American father as the mainstream media will make you believe, he’s actually a member of MS-13, and was involved in trafficking. It’s unbelievable the framing of this. Whether this man is in El Salvador or in a U.S. detention center, he should be locked up,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in response to the judge’s ruling mandating Garcia’s return.
