NY Times: “Justice Dept. Accuses Top Immigration Lawyer of Failing to Follow Orders”
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times reports on a story that is making the rounds and shows the discipline imposed on Justice Department attorneys who violate the party line.
A Justice Department lawyer was put on indefinite leave after questioning the Trump administration’s deportation of a Maryland man in what the U.S. government has admitted was an error. Erez Reuveni, the acting deputy director of the department’s immigration litigation division, was suspended for failing to “follow a directive from your superiors.” The article quotes Attorney General Pam Biondi: “. . . [E]very 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.”
In federal court, Reuveni conceded that the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who had a court order allowing him to remain in the United States, should not have occurred and said was “frustrated when the case landed on his desk.”
KJ