A Justice Department attorney who struggled in court Friday to explain the Trump administration's deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador has been placed on administrative leave, a department official said.
At the hearing, the government attorney, Erez Reuveni, expressed frustration over not having the information the judge was seeking in the case of the deported man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and made it clear he wasn’t getting much help from his superiors.
Abrego Garcia “should not have been removed,” he said, adding that he didn't know why Abrego Garcia was ever arrested. “I am also frustrated that I also have no answers for you on a lot of these questions,” he said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that Reuveni had been placed on leave. “At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States,” she said. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.”
Reuveni didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The head of Justice Connection, a network of former Justice Department employees, defended Reuveni, saying in a statement that he has "defended his clients with great skill and integrity — never as a loyalist or partisan, but because he believes in the rule of law."
"Justice Department attorneys are being put in an impossible position: Obey the president, or uphold their ethical duty to the court and the Constitution," Executive Director Stacey Young said Sunday. "We should all be grateful to DOJ lawyers who choose principle over politics and the rule of law over partisan loyalty."
The action caps another week of friction between the judicial branch and the Trump administration, which some judges have blasted for its litigation tactics.
Asked Friday by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis whether he had any evidence that showed why Abrego Garcia was arrested, Reuveni said, “The absence of evidence speaks for itself.” He added, “The government made a choice here to produce no evidence.”
Asked by Xinis why the United States couldn’t, practically speaking, get Abrego Garcia back to the country, Reuveni said he had the same question.
He said that when the case landed on his desk, “the first thing I did was ask my client the same question. I have not yet received an answer that I find satisfactory."
Abrego Garcia was deported to an infamous El Salvador prison on March 15. He is a protected legal resident and had been living in Maryland since 2011.
In court filings Monday, the government said Abrego Garcia was deported because of an “administrative error.”
Abrego Garcia sued last week demanding to be returned to the United States, but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem argued that the government doesn’t have the authority to demand that Abrego Garcia — who is originally from El Salvador — be returned.
Still, Xinis ruled Friday that the government must return Abrego Garcia to the United States by 11:59 p.m. Monday.
Administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have claimed that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia’s lawyer has said that he doesn’t have a criminal record in the United States or El Salvador and that he fled El Salvador to escape gang violence.
An immigration judge specifically barred Abrego Garcia from being returned to El Salvador in 2019, saying it was “more likely than not that he would be persecuted” there.
The Trump administration argued Saturday that Xinis didn’t have the authority to “engage with a foreign power” and demand Abrego Garcia’s return. It asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause Xinis’ order, and it asked Xinis to pause her ruling while appeals are underway, which Xinis later denied.
Reuveni’s name wasn’t listed on the government’s motion Saturday afternoon to stay Xinis’ order.
Xinis on Sunday denied the government's request to pause her order and detailed why she ruled that the government must return Abrego Garcia.
"Although the legal basis for the mass removal of hundreds of individuals to El Salvador remains disturbingly unclear, Abrego Garcia’s case is categorically different—there were no legal grounds whatsoever for his arrest, detention, or removal," she wrote in the filing.
The Trump administration has a pending stay request in the case in the 4th Circuit appeals court.
