DOJ opposes court-ordered return of immigrant, suspends lawyer who said he shouldn't have been deported
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in Central America, speaks during a news conference at CASA’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Maryland, on April 4. (Photo by Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press)
Updated: The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a federal judge’s order to return an immigrant mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador in Central America—a move that followed the department’s decision to place one of its lawyers on indefinite leave, apparently for his admissions in the case.
The government is asking the high court to issue an administrative stay to block the order by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of the District of Maryland and to vacate her injunction.
The Washington Post and the New York Times have coverage of the government’s April 7 filing, while the New York Times, CNN and NBC News are among the publications with coverage of the DOJ lawyer’s suspension. Additional stories are noted by How Appealing.
The government application claims that Xinis “ordered unprecedented relief: dictating to the United States that it must not only negotiate with a foreign country to return an enemy alien on foreign soil but also succeed by 11:59 p.m. tonight.”
“While the United States concedes that removal to El Salvador was an administrative error,” the application says, “that does not license district courts to seize control over foreign relations, treat the executive branch as a subordinate diplomat, and demand that the United States let a member of a foreign terrorist organization into America tonight.”
Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily paused Xinis’ deadline Monday afternoon to allow for a full review by the Supreme Court, the Washington Post reports.
Xinis is an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
The government had alleged that the mistakenly deported immigrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, is a member of MS-13, a gang designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. Xinis said the government had offered no evidence to show that he is a gang member.
The now-suspended DOJ lawyer, Erez Reuveni, was the acting deputy director of the department’s Office of Immigration Litigation. He had conceded in court that Abrego Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador, and he had no evidence showing why the immigrant was even arrested, according to NBC News.
“The absence of evidence speaks for itself,” he said. “The government made a choice here to produce no evidence.”
When Xinis asked what kind of practical impediment kept the government from securing Abrego Garcia’s return, Reuveni said he asked the same question when the case was assigned to him.
“I have not yet received an answer that I find satisfactory,” he said.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told the New York Times in a statement that Reuveni did not follow her order.
“At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States,” Bondi said. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.”
The case is Noem v. Abrego Garcia.
Updated April 7 at 3:25 p.m. to include reporting on Chief Justice John Roberts’ order.
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