After a distinguished 15-year career at the Department of Justice, attorney Erez Reuveni saw his professional life come to an abrupt end. Reuveni, who had been effective in defending President Trump’s first-term immigration policies, claims he was fired after witnessing government lawyers lie in court and defy a federal judge’s orders.
While the administration has dismissed him as a leaker seeking publicity, Reuveni’s allegations are contributing to a growing unease in courtrooms nationwide. In his first television interview, he stated that speaking out cost him his dream job.
From the beginning of his career, Reuveni was driven by a desire for public service. “Even before I went to law school, I understood what I wanted to do as a lawyer,” he said. “Everyone understood… you do it at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.” To Reuveni, this meant representing “the American people… to make sure that justice was done.”
Joining in 2010 as a career attorney, Reuveni specialized in immigration law, defending the policies of multiple administrations. During Trump’s first term, his work on high-profile cases, including the controversial travel ban on visitors from several Muslim-majority countries, earned him three awards and a promotion. “I defended everything they put on my plate,” he noted. “That was my job.”
Shortly into the second Trump administration, Reuveni was promoted again, this time to acting deputy director of the immigration section, overseeing approximately 100 attorneys. However, on the very day of his promotion, March 14th, he attended a meeting that would change his career’s trajectory.
The meeting was led by Emil Bove, then the newly appointed number three official at the Justice Department and a former criminal defense attorney for Trump. Reuveni recalled being told that the president would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—a wartime law used only three times in U.S. history—to rapidly expel more than 100 Venezuelans the government had labeled as terrorists, denying them a court hearing.
According to Reuveni, Bove anticipated legal challenges and gave a stark directive. “Bove emphasized, those planes need to take off, no matter what,” Reuveni recounted. “And then after a pause, he also told all in attendance, and if some court should issue an order preventing that, we may have to consider telling that court, ‘f*** you.'” Reuveni described the moment as feeling “like a bomb had gone off,” shocked that a top official would suggest disregarding federal court orders.
The next day, lawyers for the detainees filed a lawsuit. During an emergency hearing, Judge James Boasberg asked government attorney Drew Ensign if the planes were scheduled to leave that weekend. Reuveni, who was present, said Ensign misled the court. “Ensign says to Boasberg, ‘I don’t know,'” Reuveni stated. “Now Ensign was at the same meeting that I was at the day before, where we were told in no uncertain terms that planes were taking off over the weekend… and he says, ‘I don’t know.'”
Reuveni called the deception a “stunning” and egregious violation of a lawyer’s ethical duties.
While the hearing was still in progress, the planes departed. Judge Boasberg issued an order to halt the removals and return anyone already in the air. Reuveni immediately emailed the relevant agencies to enforce the order, but it was ignored. More than five hours later, the detainees arrived at a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. “And then it really hit me,” Reuveni said. “We really did just tell the court, screw you.”
Peter Keisler, who served as acting attorney general under President George W. Bush, emphasized the gravity of such actions. “The Department of Justice has the responsibility to obey all court orders,” Keisler explained. “It can disagree with the order. It can appeal it… but while the order is in effect, it’s the obligation of the department to see to it that the government complies.”
Keisler stressed that even individuals accused of being terrorists must be handled through lawful means, which includes the right to contest charges in court. “We have a saying in this country… Everybody deserves their day in court,” he said, adding that this right “absolutely” extends to immigrants.
The situation escalated for Reuveni in a separate case involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who had been deported by mistake. Reuveni said a superior ordered him to argue against Garcia’s return by telling a judge that Garcia was an MS-13 gang member and a terrorist.
“I respond up the chain of command, ‘no way,'” Reuveni recalled. “That is not factually correct. It is not legally correct. That is a lie. And I cannot sign my name to that brief.”
Reuveni clarified that the issue wasn’t Garcia’s guilt or innocence but the violation of his due process rights. “What matters here is that they did everything they did to him in violation of his due process rights,” he argued. “What’s to stop them if they decide they don’t like you anymore, to say you’re a criminal… you’re a terrorist… and now that’s you gone and your liberties changed.”
After refusing to sign the brief, Reuveni was fired. In June, with the help of the Government Accountability Project, he filed a whistleblower disclosure.
His story highlights a pattern of behavior that has alarmed legal experts and judges. Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University who co-edits a non-partisan law journal, has analyzed hundreds of lawsuits against the administration. “We found over 35 cases in which the judges have specifically said, ‘what the government is providing me is false information,'” Goodman reported.
Court records compiled by Goodman show judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans leveling sharp criticism at the Justice Department. One judge called the government’s arguments “highly misleading,” while another cited “a serious violation of the court’s order.” A third wrote with concern that “trust that had been earned over generations has been lost in weeks.”
The Department of Justice declined interview requests for Attorney General Pam Bondi, Emil Bove, and Drew Ensign. During his Senate confirmation hearing for a judgeship, Bove denied Reuveni’s claims. “I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” he testified. When asked if he had used an expletive to suggest defying the courts, Bove responded, “I don’t recall.” In a statement, Bove called Reuveni’s claims “a mix of falsehoods and wild distortions of reality.” Bove was confirmed to the judgeship.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was eventually returned to the U.S. and has pleaded not guilty to charges of transporting illegal immigrants. A judge criticized the Justice Department’s “poor attempts” to link him to MS-13, and he was not charged with terrorism. In April, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Venezuelan prisoners sent to El Salvador had been entitled to their day in court before being expelled.
For Reuveni, going public was a matter of principle. “I think about why I went to the Department of Justice: to do justice. And I took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution,” he said. “My view of that oath is that I need to speak up and draw attention to what has happened… I would not be faithfully abiding by my oath if I stayed silent right now.”
