Attorney General Pam Bondi placed a government immigration attorney on leave for failing to adequately defend the Justice Department’s mistaken deportation of an illegal immigrant to El Salvador.
The story of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been prevalent in the news amid President Donald Trump’s effort to deport dangerous illegal immigrants.
The Justice Department placed Erez Reuveni on administrative leave after he expressed frustration in court with not being able to answer the judge’s question about the deportation case, according to CNN.
The Justice Department has placed on administrative leave a government immigration lawyer who in court this week expressed frustration at not being able to answer key questions from a judge over a mistaken deportation case, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Erez Reuveni argued the government’s case in the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who the government has said was sent to his native El Salvador last month due to a clerical error, despite a court order that he not be deported.
Reuveni said in court of the government’s position: “Our only arguments are jurisdictional. … He should not have been sent to El Salvador.”
Asked why the US couldn’t simply ask for his return, Reuveni said, “The first thing I did when I got this case on my desk is ask my clients the same question,” adding that he did not get a direct answer.
Erez Reuveni argued on behalf of the Justice Department during Friday’s hearing in the Abrego Garcia case.
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) April 5, 2025
Reuveni has reportedly been placed on leave.
Here’s one exchange with the judge that may have contributed to his ouster: https://t.co/gzphh1sMQ8 pic.twitter.com/AkopJ5UiHy
“At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States. Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences,” Bondi told CNN in a statement.
Bondi also placed August Flentje, Reuveni’s supervisor, on leave for failing to instruct his subordinate properly.
The Trump administration admitted in a court filing that Abrego Garcia, who a judge had shielded from deportation back to El Salvador in 2019, had been deported “because of an administrative error.”
“On March 15, although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,” the filing said.
A federal judge has now twice demanded that the Trump administration return Abrego Garcia back to the United States, The Associated Press reported.
The order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis reaffirms a ruling she gave days earlier, shooting down arguments that the government can’t facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia because he is no longer in U.S. custody.
“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. “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.”
The Justice Department has asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause Xinis’ ruling.
Abrego Garcia had been arrested in Maryland last month. Federal agents erroneously told him his immigration status had changed.
The deportee had been detained in 2019 after coming to the United States illegally in 2012 as a 16-year-old. Authorities claimed he was a member of the MS-13 street gang. But they relied on scant evidence, including the word of a confidential informant and the clothing Abrego Garcia wore. He had a clean criminal record. He is currently being confined in a maximum security counterterrorism facility in El Salvador.
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