Attorney General Pam Bondi has suspended the senior Department of Justice attorney representing the administration in a high-visibility deportation case. Enez Reuveni, the acting deputy director of Justice’s immigration litigation division, was suspended from duty and had his email terminated in a letter from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche accusing him of failing to “follow a directive from your superiors.” Reuveni is a 15-year veteran of the Department of Justice and was only promoted to acting deputy director of the immigration litigation division two weeks ago.

Accompanying Reuveni on vacation will be his boss, August Flentje, the acting director of the immigration litigation division, who was suspended Saturday for “failure to supervise a subordinate.” 

This all flows from the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal from El Salvador who entered the US in 2011. He had alleged ties to the Salvadoran MS-13 gang and was ordered deported in 2019. A judge put his deportation on hold because he may have been in danger from a rival gang in El Salvador. Be that as it may, Abrego Garcia was scooped up by ICE in early March and deported to an anti-terrorist prison in El Salvador. His attorneys sued, and on Friday, the judge, an Obama appointee, ordered the government to find and return Abrego Garcia to the US; see . That set up a Constitutional showdown; see .

Reuveni’s demise was probably brought on by his court performance Friday which showed he disagreed with the Trump administration’s position and seemed to be more interested in sucking up to the judge by throwing his client under the bus than in doing his job. These are some of the exchanges.

Here’s another exchange that might have been disagreeable to DOJ leadership, who have accused Reuveni of failing to “zealously advocate” on behalf of the United States: pic.twitter.com/RUGzknzA9v

— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) April 5, 2025

At one point, the judge asked why the U.S. can’t bring Garcia back from El Salvador.

“[W]hen this case landed on my desk, the first thing I did was ask my clients that very question. I’ve not received, to date, an answer that I find satisfactory,” Reuveni replied. pic.twitter.com/B3KR4KxYun

— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) April 5, 2025

More: Reuveni asked the judge to give the government 24 hours to get Garcia back to the U.S. without court intervention.

He initially compared his request for one more chance to that of “the boy who cried wolf”—but quickly backtracked, saying “that’s the wrong metaphor.” pic.twitter.com/nOKMB8Y2ff

— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) April 5, 2025

When Pam Bondi was sworn in, one of the first things she did was to address the practice of DOJ lawyers during Trump 1.0 of refusing to participate in cases, sign briefs, and even throw cases they disagreed with. “It is the job of an attorney privileged to serve in the Department of Justice to zealously defend the interests of the United States,” she wrote, “Those interests, and the overall policy of the United States, are set by the Nation’s Chief Executive, who is vested by the Constitution with all “[E]xecutive Power.” More broadly, attorneys are expected to zealously advance, protect, and defend their client’s interests. Department of Justice attorneys have signed up for a job that requires zealously advocating for the United States.”

This isn’t hard. Working for DOJ shouldn’t be like playing AYSO soccer. There shouldn’t be participation trophies, and not every game ends with free snacks. It seems like the bad old ways in the DOJ went underground for a while but are now reemerging, and Reuveni was in the wrong place at the wrong time, saying the wrong thing. The seriousness of the affair is underscored by Reuveni’s supervisor getting hammered even though he signed the combative brief opposing the judge’s “bring him back” order on Saturday. This seems calculated to send a message that it isn’t enough that you personally are getting with the new program; you are responsible for bringing your attorneys along with you.

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