Bondi Suspends Attorney Who Admitted Deportee Error

The Justice Department told an appeals court Saturday that a judge did not have the authority to order the Trump administration to broker the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to a notorious El Salvador prison—and it suspended a government lawyer who admitted in court that the deportation was an error, per the AP.

• Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national, was arrested in Maryland and deported last month despite an immigration judge's 2019 ruling that shielded him from deportation to El Salvador, where he faced likely persecution by local gangs.
• The government's attorneys asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause a Friday ruling by US District Judge Paula Xinis, who ordered the administration to "facilitate and effectuate" Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return to the US by late Monday night.
• During a court hearing Friday at a federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni conceded to Xinis that Abrego Garcia should not have been removed from the US or sent to El Salvador. Reuveni could not tell the judge upon what authority he was arrested in Maryland. "I'm also frustrated that I have no answers for you for a lot of these questions," he said.

• By Saturday, Reuveni had been placed on leave by the Justice Department, a department spokesperson confirmed. "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," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
• Abrego Garcia's attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said the government has done nothing to get his client back, even after admitting its errors. The White House has cast Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 gang member and doubled down on that claim after Friday's hearing. Abrego Garcia's attorneys have countered that there is no evidence he was in MS-13.

(More Justice Department stories.)