US sidelines DOJ lawyer after judge orders return of man deported erroneously
USA-TRUMP/MIGRATION-ERROR (PIX):US sidelines DOJ lawyer after judge orders return of man deported erroneously
By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON, - The Department of Justice on Sunday said it had placed one of its attorneys on leave after he failed to vigorously defend the department's handling of a man erroneously deported to El Salvador in what a U.S. judge called a "wholly lawless" detention.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered at a court hearing on Friday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be
returned
to Maryland by 11:59 p.m. on Monday despite the DOJ's position that it cannot return him from a sovereign nation.
Asked why the government could not return him, U.S. attorney Erez Reuveni told the court: "I will say, for the court’s awareness, that when this case landed on my desk, the first thing I did was ask my clients that very question. I’ve not received, to date, an answer that I find satisfactory."
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told "Fox News Sunday" that Reuveni was no longer actively working on the case or in the department.
"It's a pending matter right now. He was put on administrative leave by Todd Blanche on Saturday," Bondi said.
"You have to vigorously argue on behalf of your client," she said.
President Donald Trump's administration had told the federal court that it had erroneously deported Abrego Garcia to his home country despite a previous court order prohibiting his removal.
Xinis, in a written order on Sunday explaining her Friday ruling, said, "There were no legal grounds for his arrest, detention or removal" or evidence that he was wanted for crimes in El Salvador. "Rather, his detention appears wholly lawless," she wrote in the filing.
The Trump administration has appealed the case.
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