{"id":6301,"date":"2025-04-05T23:10:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T23:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=6301"},"modified":"2025-04-05T23:10:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T23:10:51","slug":"doj-places-attorney-on-leave-after-struggling-in-maryland-migrant-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=6301","title":{"rendered":"DOJ places attorney on leave after struggling in Maryland migrant case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Justice Department has placed on indefinite paid leave the attorney who argued on behalf of the government on Friday in a lawsuit brought by a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error<\/a>, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.<\/p>\n

Sources said Erez Reuveni, the acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation, was told by officials at the DOJ that he was being placed on leave over a “failure to zealously advocate” for the government’s interests.<\/p>\n

“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 on Saturday. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.”<\/p>\n

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Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference at the Justice Department, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ben Curtis\/AP, FILES<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The government is seeking to appeal an order from the judge who presided over Friday’s hearing and ordered the department to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia<\/a> by Monday.<\/p>\n

In Friday’s hearing, Reuveni repeatedly struggled when pressed by Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for details surrounding Abrego Garcia’s deportation — and why the administration claimed it could not facilitate his return to the United States.<\/p>\n

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The exterior of the Terrorist Confinement Center as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrives, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Mar. 26, 2025.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Brandon\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

At one point in the hearing, Reuveni was asked by Xinis under what authority law enforcement officers seized Abrego Garcia.<\/p>\n

Reuveni said he was frustrated that he did not have those answers.<\/p>\n

“Your honor, my answer to a lot of these questions is going to be frustrating, and I’m also frustrated that I have no answers for you on a lot of these questions,” Reuveni said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department has placed on indefinite paid leave the attorney who argued on behalf of the government on Friday in a lawsuit brought by a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Sources said Erez Reuveni, the acting deputy director for the Office […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6303,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301\/revisions\/6303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}