Top DOJ official suggested violating court rulings against deportations

A senior official at the Department of Justice (DOJ) suggested to his subordinates that they ignore court orders blocking the deportation of migrants during the Trump administration’s anti-immigration campaign, according to a lawyer who worked at the federal agency until April.

In a letter written by his attorneys and addressed to the DOJ, Erez Reuveni, who served as deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation, requested an investigation into the actions of his superior, Emil Bove III, for allegedly urging disobedience of court rulings. Bove is appearing before the Senate this Wednesday for confirmation as a judge on a federal appeals court.

Reuveni, who worked at the department for 15 years, was suspended and later fired after admitting in court that the government had made a mistake by deporting Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego García to a mega-prison in Central America. In the 27-page letter, which was revealed by The New York Times, Reuveni provides numerous details and new accusations about the DOJ’s internal operations under President Donald Trump.

In the document, Reuveni states that Bove told his subordinates to tell a federal court “fuck you” and to ignore any orders that called for halting deportations. Other senior law enforcement officials were allegedly willing to obstruct judges or lie to them. According to his attorneys, Reuveni was shocked because “no one in DOJ leadership — in any administration — had ever suggested the Department of Justice could blatantly ignore court orders.”

The complaint refers to several cases, including the flights that took off on March 15 and 16 carrying more than 200 Venezuelans and Salvadorans bound for El Salvador. The Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport them without trial and later imprison them in El Salvador’s infamous CECOT high-security prison. While the planes were in the air, a federal judge ordered their return, but the administration claimed it was too late to bring them back.

Reuveni’s statements cast doubt on the Executive Branch’s defense. According to his account, Bove “stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off, no matter what.” He then mentioned “the possibility that a court order would enjoin those removals before they could be effectuated.” It was at that point that, according to Reuveni, Bove said that “the DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such order.” Reuveni “perceived that others in the room looked stunned, and he observed awkward, nervous glances among people in the room. Silence overtook the room,” the account says.

“Agency counsel for DHS [Department of Homeland Security] informed Mr. Reuveni by telephone that DOJ leadership had advised DHS to deplane the flights in El Salvador,” the letter states.

It adds that it “became clear to Mr. Reuveni that the DHS and DOS [Department of State] were receiving contrary directions from someone else to take actions in violation of court orders.”

In April, Judge James Boasberg found probable cause to hold the administration in contempt for defying his order that the planes be returned. A federal appeals court has blocked him from taking further action.

Reuveni had been representing the government in the civil case of Abrego García, who was deported to El Salvador despite having court-ordered protection prohibiting his removal. At a hearing with Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland regarding Abrego García’s deportation, Reuveni admitted that he did not understand the reasons for the removal and that it had been a mistake. When his superior asked him to submit new claims suggesting that Abrego García was a terrorist, Reuveni refused to lie, according to his account. President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and senior White House officials publicly criticized him, and he was fired.

Nominated to a court of appeals

In recent months, tensions have emerged among DOJ employees, revealing the controversial decisions made by political appointees nominated by Trump to lead the department.

Reuveni’s report was submitted on Tuesday, one day before Bove was scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of his nomination to a federal court of appeals, set for this Wednesday.

Bove’s superior, Todd Blanche, criticized the timing of Reuveni’s statements, calling them “falsehoods purportedly made by a disgruntled former employee and then leaked to the press in violation of ethical obligations.”

The committee’s top Democrat, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, stated that Reuveni’s allegations “not only speak to Mr. Bove’s failure to fulfill his ethical obligations as a lawyer, but demonstrate that his activities are part of a broader pattern by President Trump and his allies to undermine the Justice Department’s commitment to the rule of law.”

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