DOJ ousts lawyer who said Abrego Garcia deportation was a mistake
The article discusses the recent dismissal of a Justice Department lawyer, Erez Reuveni, who acknowledged that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 gang member, was a mistake. This deportation occured under the trump administration, which aimed to return Garcia to El Salvador through the Alien Enemies Act.After being deported, Garcia faced legal challenges due to a 2019 court order prohibiting his return to El Salvador for safety reasons related to gang rivalries.
Reuveni’s admission of an “administrative error” in Garcia’s deportation process led to his ouster from the DOJ, amid accusations that he undermined the administration’s deportation efforts.Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized Reuveni for not defending the goverment’s position. The case was elevated to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the Trump administration had to facilitate garcia’s return to the U.S.,despite initial resistance.The Salvadoran government, led by President Nayib Bukele, expressed difficulties in complying, but ultimately garcia was returned. Upon his return, he was instantly charged with federal human trafficking offenses related to illegal smuggling activities.
DOJ ousts lawyer who said Abrego Garcia deportation was a mistake
The Trump administration ousted a Justice Department lawyer who conceded that it initially mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant and alleged MS-13 gang member whom the White House attempted to return to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.
Erez Reuveni, who argued the government’s case in Abrego Garcia’s deportation, has left the DOJ, according to court filings.
Abrego Garcia was granted a work permit under the Biden administration after entering the United States illegally. He married a U.S. citizen and lived in Maryland for years before being targeted by the Trump administration for removal this spring due to two court findings that he was a member of the notoriously violent Salvadoran gang MS-13.
The move was swiftly challenged in court because of a standing 2019 order placing restrictions on where he could be deported. While he can be deported to other countries, the order prohibited Abrego Garcia from being sent back to El Salvador over concerns that his safety would be at risk from disgruntled MS-13 gang members.
As he represented the Trump administration in court, Reuveni admitted that Abrego Garcia was initially mistakenly deported to El Salvador this spring due to what the DOJ described as an “administrative error.”
Now, Reuveni is no longer with the Justice Department after the latest legal disclosures confirm reports in April that he was kicked out of the DOJ due to accusations of sabotaging the Trump administration’s effort to deport Abrego Garcia.
“When you represent the United States of America as an assistant U.S. attorney, you argue for the Constitution, for the United States of America, and for your clients, and he didn’t do that,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said of Reuveni at the time during a Fox News interview. “He argued against Homeland Security and [the] State Department, and so he’s not with our office anymore, and he won’t be coming back.”
The case went to the Supreme Court, where justices ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. The administration initially resisted, arguing that it was unable to carry out the order because Abrego Garcia was in a Salvadoran prison and no longer under U.S. jurisdiction.
“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said in April. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
BUKELE MAKING ‘BIG MISTAKE’ BY KEEPING ABREGO GARCIA: VAN HOLLEN
However, Bukele returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. earlier this month after Secretary of State Marco Rubio pressured him to do so.
The DOJ immediately leveled federal human trafficking charges against Abrego Garcia upon his return, citing allegations that he illegally smuggled guns, drugs, and “thousands of undocumented aliens who had no authorization to be present in the United States, and many of whom were MS-13 members and associates” during more than 100 trips.
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