Trump admin suspends lawyer in case of Maryland man mistakenly deported for failing to zealously advocate
The Trump administration has placed a Justice Department (DOJ) lawyer on leave for not “zealously advocating” its position in the case involving a Salvadoran man living in Maryland who was mistakenly deported last month. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office placed Erez Reuveni, who argued for the government, in Friday’s hearing in which a judge ruled Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be returned to the US by Monday, on indefinite paid leave, Fox News has learned. “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.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the DOJ for comment. Reuveni on Friday admitted that Garcia’s deportation was a mistake, according to the New York Times. On Saturday, the Trump administration argued in an emergency appeal that US District Judge Paula Xinis can’t force the administration to return Garcia to the US.Xinis on Friday ruled that the government must make arrangements to have Garcia back in the US before Monday at midnight.The Saturday emergency appeal seeks to temporarily stay Xinis’ decision until the government has time to properly appeal the ruling. “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 reviewed by Fox News Digital. The government also argued that it “does not have control over” Garcia now that he is in 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 said, calling it “i...