{"id":40640,"date":"2025-04-06T01:54:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T06:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=40640"},"modified":"2025-04-06T05:05:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T10:05:36","slug":"doj-places-attorney-on-leave-after-struggling-in-maryland-migrant-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=40640","title":{"rendered":"DOJ places attorney on leave after struggling in Maryland migrant case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\n

The Justice Department has also placed the deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation on paid administrative leave, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

August Flentje, who was Reuveni’s supervisor, was placed on administrative leave Saturday by officials at Main Justice for “failure to supervise a subordinate,” according to the sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appellate brief that was submitted to the 4th Circuit Saturday morning bears Flentje’s electronic signature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\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.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\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 of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":40641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2299,5295,2724],"class_list":["post-40640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-attorney","tag-leave","tag-maryland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40642,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40640\/revisions\/40642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}