Justice Department Suspends Lawyer Over Candid Comments on Immigration Case
Erez Reuveni told a judge the Trump administration hadn’t given a satisfactory answer as to why a man was deported to El Salvador prison in error
April 5, 2025
The Justice Department suspended one of its top immigration lawyers after he criticized the Trump administration for a lack of transparency about a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador.
Erez Reuveni, a senior lawyer in the Justice Department’s immigration litigation office, was placed on indefinite leave Saturday, the day after a hearing that led to a judge’s ordering the U.S. to return the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
“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 confirming the move. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.”
Immigration officials have attributed Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador as an administrative error. In 2019, an immigration judge ordered that he not be returned to his home country.
After Abrego Garcia’s March arrest, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt alleged that he was a leader of MS-13.
There
have been no criminal charges against Abrego Garcia, and he has denied
any gang affiliation. He has been detained in a notorious,
maximum-security Salvadoran prison.
In court Friday, a federal judge questioned Reuveni on how Abrego Garcia had been sent to the prison. “When this case landed on my desk, the first thing I did was ask my clients that very question, and I have not gotten a satisfactory answer,” Reuveni said.
Reuveni said during the hearing that he had expected government officials to do more to bring Abrego Garcia home.
“I am also frustrated that I don’t have answers for you on these questions,” Reuveni told the judge.
In one of her first moves as attorney general, Bondi issued a directive calling for the career workforce to put aside any personal misgivings and bring “zealous advocacy” to the Trump administration.
Since then, a series of career Justice Department attorneys have either been placed on leave, demoted or terminated because they have publicly criticized a Trump administration policy or official or declined to follow directions from leadership.
Several federal prosecutors resigned in protest of recent Justice Department decisions, including ordering the dismissal of the bribery case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said Reuveni’s comments were the most striking thing about Friday’s hearing.
“Over and over again, he stated that his clients had not provided him with certain information,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said at a Friday press conference. “It really goes to show how little importance the federal government has given to this case.”
During Friday’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis repeatedly thanked Reuveni for his candor.
Ruling from the bench, Xinis said Abrego Garcia must be returned from El Salvador by April 7. She found that Abrego Garcia was deported in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act and without any legal process.
“The balance of equities and the public interest weigh in favor of returning him to the United States,” Xinis, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, said in her order.
The Justice Department filed an appeal of the order on Friday.
Write to Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com, James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com and Jan Wolfe at jan.wolfe@wsj.com