From Department of Justice to Department of Loyalty
On Friday, Erez Reuveni, a senior immigration lawyer at the Department of Justice, stood before a federal judge and did something that once defined integrity: he told the truth. Reuveni acknowledged that the Trump administration had illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident mistakenly sent to a violent Salvadoran prison under a mass deportation order. In court, he expressed frustration that his own client, the United States government, refused to offer any evidence or explanation, and questioned why they would not simply bring Garcia back.
By Saturday, he was placed on leave.
Attorney General Pam Bondi justified the suspension with a chilling statement: “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.” In other words, zealous loyalty is now a higher priority than the law itself. When a government punishes attorneys not for misconduct but for honesty, it no longer deserves to be called a Department of Justice. It becomes a Department of Loyalty, where truth is expendable, and the Constitution is little more than an obstacle to be managed.
The judge in the case, Paula Xinis, ordered that Abrego Garcia be returned to U.S. soil by Monday at 11:59 p.m., rejecting the administration’s claim that it lacked jurisdiction to retrieve him. “If the government had the functional control to deport him,” she said, “then it has the functional control to bring him back.” But functional control means nothing when a regime has no intention of following the law.
The Trump administration used the archaic 1798 Alien Enemies Act to carry out mass deportations of alleged gang members, many without due process. And when a DOJ lawyer dared to question an error, dared to suggest in court that the government could correct it, he was silenced. Not for lying. Not for misconduct. But for truthfully acknowledging that the emperor has no clothes.
This moment isn’t just about one man being deported illegally. It’s about what happens when federal agencies are no longer allowed to function as independent arms of a democratic system, but are instead weaponized to enforce the loyalty of their own employees. The judiciary is being defied. The law is being twisted. And honesty has become a fireable offense.