Attorney General Pam Bondi made headlines by suspending a Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyer involved in the controversial deportation case of a Salvadoran illegal immigrant reportedly linked to the violent gang MS-13. Bondi’s actions highlight the critical need for more vigorous enforcement of immigration laws and the protection of American citizens from dangerous criminals slipping through the cracks.
Erez Reuveni, a long-time Department of Justice lawyer, has been suspended over his handling of a deportation case involving a Salvadoran national allegedly linked to MS-13. The individual was removed due to Reuveni's failure to "zealously advocate" for the government's position in the case. With nearly 15 years of service at the DOJ, Reuveni was recently promoted by the Trump administration to acting deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation.
“Our only arguments are jurisdictional. … He should not have been sent to El Salvador,” Reuveni said in court.
His suspension comes after a judge ordered the Trump administration to secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national living in Maryland who had been protected from removal in 2019. The administration has attributed his deportation to El Salvador to an “administrative error.”
However, Bondi argued that Garcia was an illegal alien who had no right to stay in the United Stats.
“At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States. Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences,” Bondi said in a statement.
“He was put on administrative leave by Todd Blanche on Saturday. And I firmly said on Day 1, I issued a memo that you are to vigorously advocate on behalf of the United States. Our client in this matter was Homeland Security — is Homeland Security. He did not argue. He shouldn’t have taken the case. He shouldn’t have argued it if that’s what he was going to do. He’s on administrative leave now,” Bondi said in a separate statement on Fox News Sunday.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Bondi’s remarks, saying that Garcia is an “illegal criminal who broke our nation’s immigration laws” and has “no legal protections in the United States of America.”