Fired DOJ Lawyer Blamed Trump Admin in Abrego Garcia Case, but Did Not Raise ‘Guatemala’ Mention in ‘Withholding of Removal’ Order

Erez Reuveni, the attorney who was fired by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) after stating in a legal filing that the Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador as the result of “an administrative error,” complained to U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis that he was “frustrated” by the lack of information supplied by his client, the federal government under the Trump administration, regarding the reason for the Salvadoran’s deportation to his homeland.

Reuveni did not note that the final deportation order signed by U.S. Immigration Judge David A. Jones in 2019 included a “withholding of removal” order that forbade his deportation to one of two nations, either Guatemala or El Salvador.

Jones did not clearly state which nation Abrego Garcia was barred from being removed to in 2019, but specifically claimed earlier in his order that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) failed to prove conditions had improved in Guatemala, where the judge suggested Abrego Garcia’s family had relocated to escape the reach of the Central American gang, Barrio 18, which would seem to suggest Jones barred the deportation of Abrego Garcia to that country.

The exact nation which Abrego Garcia requested the “withholding of removal” order remains unclear, as the Form I-589 he submitted as part of the 2019 court case is not public, but the judge’s ruling could suggest the Abrego Garcia family was subjected to continuous intimidation from Barrio 18 over a series of moves from El Salvador to Guatemala.

In addition to the “withholding of removal,” Abrego Garcia also sought asylum and protection from state-sponsored torture if deported to El Salvador. His requests for asylum and protection against torture were denied.

Attorneys representing Abrego Garcia and his family successfully argued in U.S. District Court and the U.S. Supreme Court that the “withholding of removal” order granted in 2019 applied to El Salvador, but despite the claim being undermined by the four references to Guatemala in the 2019 order, Reuveni did not raise the specific language used within the 2019 order when defending the Trump administration’s decision to deport Abrego Garcia last month.

Before his suspension at the DOJ on April 5, which was reportedly followed swiftly by termination on April 15, The Wall Street Journal reported that Reuveni told Xinis that the administration failed to provide him with sufficient information about the case.

“That information has not been given to me,” Reuveni told the judge when asked if Abrego Garcia could not simply be returned from El Salvador to the United States, a plan Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele later called “preposterous.”

According to the outlet, Reuveni told Xinis that he nonetheless asked the Trump administration why Abrego Garcia could not be returned, but was not given “a satisfactory answer” prior to his court appearance. The outlet also reported that Reuveni vented his frustration over the case to the judge during the court proceedings.

“I am also frustrated that I have no answers for you on a lot of these questions,” Reuveni told Xinis, according to the Journal.

Immediately after the Abrego Garcia family sued over the deportation, rather than raising the inconsistencies within the 2019 decision, or otherwise seeking to preserve the Trump administration’s decision to remove Abrego Garcia from the country, The Atlantic reported that anonymous federal officials began working behind the scenes to arrange for the Salvadoran to return to the United States immediately after he was deported.

This planning was only corrected by the White House, which has since stated that Abrego Garcia will never return to the United States.

Abrego Garcia reportedly admitted to law enforcement that he entered the country in March 2012, after his family purportedly sent him to live illegally in the United States to escape the reach of Barrio 18, which he claimed was then intimidating the family’s pupusa business.

Two judges have determined he is likely to be an MS-13 member, though he has denied this claim. MS-13 was among the criminal groups the Trump administration named a Foreign Terrorist Organization earlier this year.

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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].