NBC NEWS
The DOJ attorney said in court that the administration should not have deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a protected legal resident.
A Justice Department attorney who struggled in court on Friday to explain the Trump administration’s deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador has been placed on administrative leave, a department official says.
At the hearing, the government attorney, Erez Reuveni, expressed frustration over not having information the judge was seeking in the case of the deported man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and made clear he had was not getting much help from his superiors.
Abrego Garcia “should not have been removed,” he said, adding that he didn’t know why Garcia was ever arrested. “I am also frustrated that I also have no answers for you on a lot of these questions,” he said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement following the news that Reuveni had been placed on leave, “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.”
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