section_path: Contesting deportation/Initial consideration in the Maryland district court/Erez Reuveni
section_name: Erez Reuveni
paragraph_text: Erez Reuveni
  
  In the April 4 hearing before Xinis, Erez Reuveni stated the DOJ had failed to give him the necessary information to respond to the judge's inquiries. Reuveni admitted the deportation was a mistake, saying "the facts are conceded, plaintiff Abrego Garcia should not have been removed," and when questioned on why the government was not able to return Abrego Garcia to the US, Reuveni stated that he had asked the same question to government officials and had not received an answer.
  
  The following day, the DOJ placed Reuveni on administrative leave along with his supervisor August "Auggie" Flentje. Reuveni had previously been promoted to acting deputy director of the DOJ Office of Immigration Litigation on March 21. Attorney General Pam Bondi commented in a statement: "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 later added: "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... You have to vigorously argue on behalf of your client." Politico noted that despite Bondi's assertions, Reuveni "did argue that Xinis had no jurisdiction to consider the case." The DOJ fired Reuveni on April 15, saying that he had sabotaged the Abrego Garcia case. Another lawyer in the Office of Immigration Litigation, Joseph A. Darrow, later resigned and said that people were "shocked and despondent" over Reuveni's treatment. Two additional lawyers resigned. One, Erin Ryan, wrote in her farewell email that the response to Reuveni was "an act of intimidation against all the attorneys who work here" and "put us in an impossible position where we have to decide between keeping this job pushing a partisan agenda, or maintaining our ethical obligation to the court and thus our bar license."
  
  In the April 4 hearing before Xinis, Erez Reuveni stated the DOJ had failed to give him the necessary information to respond to the judge's inquiries. Reuveni admitted the deportation was a mistake, saying "the facts are conceded, plaintiff Abrego Garcia should not have been removed," and when questioned on why the government was not able to return Abrego Garcia to the US, Reuveni stated that he had asked the same question to government officials and had not received an answer.
  
  The following day, the DOJ placed Reuveni on administrative leave along with his supervisor August "Auggie" Flentje. Reuveni had previously been promoted to acting deputy director of the DOJ Office of Immigration Litigation on March 21. Attorney General Pam Bondi commented in a statement: "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 later added: "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... You have to vigorously argue on behalf of your client." Politico noted that despite Bondi's assertions, Reuveni "did argue that Xinis had no jurisdiction to consider the case." The DOJ fired Reuveni on April 15, saying that he had sabotaged the Abrego Garcia case. Another lawyer in the Office of Immigration Litigation, Joseph A. Darrow, later resigned and said that people were "shocked and despondent" over Reuveni's treatment. Two additional lawyers resigned. One, Erin Ryan, wrote in her farewell email that the response to Reuveni was "an act of intimidation against all the attorneys who work here" and "put us in an impossible position where we have to decide between keeping this job pushing a partisan agenda, or maintaining our ethical obligation to the court and thus our bar license."