White House aide Stephen Miller contradicted a number of statements the Trump administration has made in court, claiming a Maryland man was not deported to a Salvadoran prison in error.
Miller’s comment came after the Justice Department said Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and Maryland resident, was deported due to an “administrative error,” as he was protected from deportation in a 2019 order from a judge.
The career Justice Department attorney who made the disclosure was suspended later when Attorney General Pam Bondi said he failed to “vigorously” defend the Trump administration.
But Miller said Monday that attorney Erez Reuveni was suspended for an “incorrect” line.
“Nobody was mistakenly deported anywhere. That’s a big fact that all of you, most of you, have gotten wrong. No one was mistakenly sent anywhere. The only mistake that was made is a lawyer put an incorrect line in a legal filing that’s since been relieved. … He is El Salvadorian. He is an illegal alien. He was deported to El Salvador,” Miller told reporters at the White House on Monday.
While it was a filing from Reuveni that said Abrego Garcia was deported in error, other Trump administration officials have made sworn declarations indicating he was mistakenly removed from the country.
“The operation that led to Abrego-Garcia’s removal to El Salvador was designed to only include individuals with no impediments to removal. … ICE was aware of this grant of withholding of removal at the time Abrego-Garcia’s removal from the United States. Reference was made to this status on internal forms,” Robert Cerna, the acting field office director for enforcement and removal operations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wrote in a declaration filed last month.
“Through administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador. This was an oversight.”
Bondi did not reference the content of Reuveni’s filings when discussing his suspension.
“He was put on administrative leave by Todd Blanche on Saturday. And I firmly said on Day 1, I issued a memo that you are to vigorously advocate on behalf of the United States. Our client in this matter was Homeland Security — is Homeland Security. He did not argue. He shouldn’t have taken the case. He shouldn’t have argued it, if that’s what he was going to do. He’s on administrative leave now,” she said earlier this month.
“You have to vigorously argue on behalf of your client.”
