DOJ lawyer placed on leave over case of Maryland man mistakenly deported

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 U.S. 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. 

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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 U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis can’t force the administration to return Garcia to the U.S. 

Xinis on Friday ruled that the government must make arrangements to have Garcia back in the U.S. 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 “indefensible.”

The filing said that the “lacked the power” to require the government “on the clock, to try to force a foreign country to take a discrete action.”

It added, “Abrego Garcia has been found to be a member of a designated Foreign 3 Terrorist Organization, MS-13. Given that status, he has no legal right or basis to be in the United States at all.” 

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Xinis on Friday said that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s March 15th expulsion of Garcia violated the Administrative Procedures Act, since it occurred without a judicial proceeding.

The Trump administration has acknowledged Garcia’s removal was an “administrative error,” but has also defended it, alleging that Garcia has ties to MS-13.  

“This individual is an illegal criminal who broke our nation’s immigration laws. He is a leader in the brutal MS-13 gang, and he is involved in human trafficking,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing on Tuesday. 

“And now MS-13 is a designated foreign terrorist organization. Foreign terrorists have no legal protections in the United States of America. And this administration is going to continue to deport foreign terrorists and illegal criminals from our nation’s interior,” she added. 

An immigration judge five years ago said Garcia, who came to the U.S. illegally in 2011 and asked for asylum, could not be deported to his home country, over concerns he would become a victim of local El Salvador gang members.

His request for asylum was denied, but he was given protection from deportation and ICE didn’t appeal the decision. 

Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who is a U.S. citizen, has vigorously campaigned for his return. 

Garcia had been working as a sheet metal apprentice in Maryland and was arrested in an IKEA parking lot on March 12 while his 5-year-old son was in the car. 

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His lawyers have argued the man had a Department of Homeland Security permit to work in the country, and strongly deny any gang affiliations. They also say that the government has given little evidence to back up its claim. 

There was no indication how the government would comply, since he is incarcerated in an El Salvador prison under that government’s custody.

Fox News’ Cameron Arcand and The Associated Press contributed to this report.