Last Saturday the Justice Department suspended attorney Erez Reuveni, acting deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation, after he admitted during a court hearing that the Trump administration mistakenly deported a Maryland man to El Salvador’s Cecot mega-prison (aka, Center for Terrorism Confinement).
As reported in latest news here, during a hearing last Friday in federal court in Maryland, a district court judge ordered the Trump administration to take immediate steps to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States after concluding his removal to El Salvador's Cecot “was an illegal act.” Representing the United States during the hearing, Erez Reuveni, a 15-year DOJ veteran, acknowledged the mistake and told the court he did not know what authority the United States used to deport Abrego Garcia. “My answer to a lot of these questions is going to be frustrating,” Reuveni told the court. “And I’m frustrated that I don’t have answers to a lot of these questions.”
On Saturday, DOJ suspended Reuveni indefinitely. In response to questions about the suspension, Attorney General Pam Bondi said: “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.” Reuveni, a career Department prosecutor, had been recently promoted by the Trump administration as acting deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation. In court filings, Reuveni and other department officials on the case had acknowledged Abrego Garcia was sent to the Salvadoran prison due to an “administrative error,” but had argued against his return.
Abrego Garcia, who is Salvadoran, was arrested last month and deported on March 15 as part of a surprise airlift of alleged gang members to El Salvador’s Cecot mega-prison. His removal came six years after an immigration judge found Abrego Garcia had testified credibly that he could be harmed or killed by gang members in El Salvador and was therefore protected from removal to El Salvador.