April 6 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department has suspended its lawyer who told a federal court Friday that he did not understand the government’s reasoning after federal authorities admitted that a Maryland man had been mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
Erez Reuveni, who has worked for the Justice Department for nearly 15 years, spoke Friday before U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis regarding the issue of Kilmar Abrego García. The Salvadoran immigrant, who is married to a U.S. citizen, was sent by the Trump administration to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador last month.
“We have nothing to say on the merits. We concede he should not have been removed to El Salvador,” Reuveni told the court at the Friday hearing, according to court documents obtained by UPI.
When Reuveni was asked on what basis García had been held, Reuveni answered that he didn’t know. “That information has not been given to me. I don’t know,” he said.
Reuveni, the acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation, has been placed on indefinite paid leave over his failure to “zealously advocate” for the government of the United States, anonymous sources told ABC News, the Washington Post, and Politico. United Press International could not independently confirm the suspension.
“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 Saturday to ABC News. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.”
Reuveni’s supervisor, August Flentje, has also been placed on administrative leave for “failure to supervise a subordinate,” the reports said.
The news came after Xinis ruled from the bench Friday that the Trump administration had until Monday to arrange for the return García to the United States, but the Trump administration has argued that it cannot since the Salvadoran prison where he is being held is outside the jurisdiction of the United States.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who is holding alleged gang members at his country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, has not expressed willingness to return the U.S. resident.
“We suggest the judge contact President Bukele because we are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an email to the Washington Post.
But in an explanation of her bench ruling published Sunday, Xinis called the “silence” of the Trump administration in explaining its reasoning to Reuveni “telling.”
“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. For the following reasons, their jurisdictional arguments fail as a matter of law.”
Xinis wrote that the United States arranged and paid for the transfer of detainees to the prison and that they are being held there pending “the United States’ decision on their long-term disposition.”
This implies the U.S. retains practical and legal control over the detainees, she wrote.
